Don't Count Me Out

by negative 97

Dmitri is tired of being pushed around by his peers at Unova's prestigious pokemon trainer school, the Battle Academy. With the lowest rank at the school, he's going to have to get new battle tactics and new pokemon. His mom and friends are right there to support him, and his loudmouthed Mienshao, Maris, is right by his side. Can he prove he's truly the best?

67. Chapter 66 Dawn

Ch.66

Dawn

Pokemon is the property of its respective owners, Ocs belong to me

Trembling violently and releasing erratic, stunted breathes, Cobalion continued to cover her tear ridden face with her forelegs while laying on her belly as the unceasing visions of her past crimes, coupled with the fact that she was experiencing every bit of her victim's pain, nearly made her lose her grip on her sanity. Not helping matters was that in some of these visions, she was the victim herself and could only stare helplessly as her doppelganger mercilessly struck her down in each and every one. Most egregiously, however, was that every day, or what she thought was another day in the Distortion World, Giratina would make her relive every single moment of her death at Stephanie's figurative hands. It was bad enough the first time, given that a rather brutal smack to her head, courtesy of Stephanie's thick, muscular tail bolstered by Rock Smash, had depressed part of her skull and left her a mouth frothing, wildly twitching mess on the ground.

The next time around, however, she was either experiencing being burnt to a scorched, fiery crisp courtesy of Hidden Power fire, being throttled by her throat when the floral serpent tightly coiled around her neck, or being crashed into by the grass snake like a runaway train who channeled the power of flying types around her body. Even that, however, wasn't good enough for the lord of the Distortion World it seemed as firstly, Giratina would alter the visions so Cobalion was Stephanie herself from time to time. Secondly, the lord of the Distortion World would make it so the former head of the Swords of Justice could only watch helplessly as her body moved of its own volition and brutalized her doppelganger. Whether this was to punish her, give her a taste of her own medicine, or the ghostly dragon's attempt to teach her empathy, perhaps a combination of all three, Cobalion couldn't say.

All she knew that whatever Giratina's intentions were, they worked. No longer was the former head of the Swords of Justice the proud, stalwart warrior she once was. Now, she was just an anxious, sobbing mess that wanted the visions to stop! Cobalion was soon knocked out of her stupor when a hole suddenly appeared in her pocket dimension prison and the Lord of the Distortion World poked her head through it and locked eyes with her. Sucking in a breathe and letting it back out, the former head of the Swords of Justice shook away her tears, stood back up, straightened her back, lifted her head, and stared at the ghostly dragon with narrowed eyes.

"(W-what?)" the former head of the Swords of Justice stuttered while doing her best to look as dignified and imposing as possible, but compared to the Lord of the Distortion World, she may as well have been an ant standing before a dinosaur.

"(Just wanted to check on your progress, is all. Terrakion has already moved onto the next step of her trials while Virizion is proving to be quite...resistant to my treatment,)" the lord of the Distortion World explained, causing Cobalion to scoff, as she wanted nothing more than to just strike down the being in front of her and make her escape.

"(The fact that he still has enough sanity to still be overconfident is a testament to his resolve in our mission. You may have broken Terrakion and I, but Virizion will not yield!)" the master swordswoman defiantly cried, making the ghostly dragon merely smack her lips.

"(Judging by your words, I'm assuming that now you greatly regret your past actions, but you would do them all over again if given the chance?)" the ghostly dragon posited, making Cobalion pause as she considered Giratina's words long and hard before giving the Lord of the Distortion World a resolute nod.

"(Yes, I would. I wish I could have done things differently, but circumstances forced my hand,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice retorted with a huff, causing the ghostly dragon to purse her lips and nod.

"(Well, at least you express regret; that means you've developed some form of empathy and disgust for your former actions. As a reward, the visions that make you relive the pain you inflicted on others will cease,)" Giratina declared, causing Cobalion to go wide-eyed and stare at the ghostly dragon with her jaw agape before dipping her head and profusely thanking the ghostly dragon, all while tears flowed down her face.

"(Visions meant to instruct will remain in place, however,)" the ghostly dragon continued, making the expression on the former Lord of the Swords of Justice's face deflate somewhat, but was nevertheless still glad the painful dreams would stop.

"(If you don't mind me asking, what trials did my cohorts go through?)" Cobalion inquired, to which Giratina just clicked her tongue, making the master swordswoman grunt and narrow her eyes, but otherwise did her best to shrug it off.

"(Well, in Terrakion's case, she was always the most moral among you. With that in mind, putting in her scenarios in which she felt she had no choice but to stand against you and Virizion proved most instructive as it forced her to be more than just the voice of reason,)" the ghostly dragon elaborated, causing Cobalion to fall silent as yes, her old friend was always her better half and one she should have heeded more often.

"(And Virizion-)"

"(Once empathy and remorse are beaten into his skull since that seems to be the only way to get through to him, his visions will consist of his arrogance being put under a microscope as is the human saying. He will be allowed to run amok and believe that he's in full control which will make it all the better once his decisions cause the fabricated world around him to fall to ruin,)" the lord of the Distortion World interrupted the former master of the Swords of Justice, causing Cobalion to release a breathe and slowly nod. Virizion was certainly overconfident to the point that he felt he should lead instead of her, and they would sometimes come to blows over it when things were at a head.

"(A-and as for me?)" the master swordswoman asked in a voice barely above a whisper while outwardly maintaining a cool facade as she stared right into the ghostly dragon's eyes, but inwardly felt the great, overwhelming urge to look anywhere else.

"(Your need for recognition and for things to be under your control lead you to take some rather...extreme measures to achieve both. When these were taken away from you, you and your allies were just looking for an excuse to kickstart hostilities again. Therefore, your scenarios will not only take recent events into light, but consist of you having to swallow your pride and be a follower rather than a leader,)" the ghostly dragon informed the master swordswoman who huffed, grit her teeth, and scowled as she considered Giratina's words. Deferring to someone else to make decisions? They may not be able to make the hard decisions like she was, but then again, maybe not. With that in mind, the former lord of the Swords of Justice took a deep breathe in, let it back out, locked eyes with Giratina, and nodded.

"(O-okay, I'm ready,)" Cobalion replied, to which the master of the Distortion World nodded, and retracted her head from the opening. This not only caused the gap to close nigh instantaneously, but left the former master of the Swords of Justice in complete, utter darkness. Sucking in a breathe, the master swordswoman unconsciously tensed up and readied herself for some sort of attack...only for a small, purple, will o' the wisp to appear in front of her face. Before she could even say anything, the purple flame suddenly zipped off to the side, making Cobalion jolt, as the will o' the wisp left a trail of light behind it. Saying nothing, the former master of the Swords of Justice followed the trail that seemed to be going on for an eternity before she saw a swirling mass of unknown, purple energy cascading with bursting, discharging magenta electricity.

Seeing the will o' the wisp diving into the mass of energy, Cobalion steeled herself, grit her teeth, and stepped into it. Grimacing as she felt her whole body tingling, making her seemingly lose the ability to feel anything, Cobalion was soon swallowed whole by the mass of energy and was blinded by a burst of white light. Hissing, the master swordswoman tightly shut her eyes, but even this gesture didn't seem to protect her for long, causing her to blackout.

"(If you're done napping, I suggest you open your eyes. Your first lesson in this next stage is about to begin,)" Giratina psychically informed the former master of the Swords of Justice, causing Cobalion to groan, clutch her head, and shake it to and fro. Realizing she shouldn't have been able to clutch her head at all, the master swordswoman shot open her eyes, looked down, and gasped when she saw her forelegs were replaced with the arm sleeves and paws of a Mienshao. Frantically breathing in and out, the former lord of the Swords of Justice, seeing that a stream was nearby, ran over to it and looked down at her reflection. Nearly screaming when she saw that yes, she was indeed a Mienshao for whatever reason, Cobalion took a step back and put both paws to her head while looking down at the ground.

"(W-what is this? H-how...how could turning me into...this be of possible instruction?)" Cobalion stuttered as she took stock of her surroundings...and saw that everything around her was frozen in time. In particular, the group of humans she was next to, most likely this Mienshao's traveling companions, consisting of a dragon slayer judging by the residual amount of draconic energy she sensed from the long, black haired girl, a chocolate haired girl who was certainly a noble judging by the way she carried herself, even if it was in an unbecoming manner, and a rather plain looking boy, most likely a servant of said noble, stood completely still. After regaining her bearings to an extent, the former lord of the Swords of Justice walked over to the boy and waved her paw in his face, but he was completely unresponsive.

"(What is going on?)" the master swordswoman asked herself as suddenly, a giant mass of swirling, purple miasma, similar to the one that she stepped into, appeared in front of her. Gasping as she felt an unknown force tugging on her, Cobalion grit her teeth and shielded her face with her forearm as nearby debris and foliage were sucked into the purple energy field which continued to get bigger and bigger. Soon, however, it began to twist and contort with visceral, loud cracked akin to bones being brutally snapped in two, making the former lord of the Swords of Justice ready herself for some sort of attack, only for the miasma to take shape into Giratina.

"(Your lesson. As you already most likely surmised, you're the Mienshao attached to this group of humans and pokemon on their journey in this scenario. In a moment, I will let time move normally and let what happened play out. How things go from there is up to you,)" the ghostly dragon told the former master of the Swords of Justice, causing Cobalion to snort and look up at the phantom of Giratina.

"(I don't know these humans, much less their servant, so what purpose could this vision possibly serve?)" the former master of the Swords of Justice nearly roared at the top of her lungs, but just managed to restrain herself to merely raising her voice as the apparition of the ghostly dragon simply blinked.

"(As I said earlier, not only will your visions take recent events into light, but they will have you be a follower rather than a leader, and what better scenario than being one of your brethren accompanying the trainers you oh so despise?)" the ghostly dragon remarked, causing the former lord of the Swords of Justice to grunt, but otherwise grudgingly, but quietly acknowledged the rather clever setup of this vision.

"(These humans and their servant, who are they? Your contacts in the human world?)" Cobalion surmised, to which the phantom of the lord of the Distortion World chuckled lowly, flew over to the group of frozen humans, and examined them like one would when seeing an insect fly past them.

"(No one of note in the grand scheme of things. The black haired girl is what the humans call a dragon tamer, essentially a dragon slayer from the Days of Old, but her ability to call upon draconic energy vastly pales in comparison to the ones you've encountered. That being said, it would do you well not to underestimate her,)" the phantom explained, causing the former lord of the Swords of Justice to nod, as she had her fill of dragon slayers and was certainly not looking forward to combating one, even if the girl wasn't as powerful as the ones she had crossed blades with.

"(The brown haired girl is, in essence, a modern day noble, complete with the...blood money you'd expect from someone from such a background. She has, however, reformed her ways, and is attempting to do so for her institution as a whole. Obviously, she can't escape the effects of her former actions when they rear their ugly head,)" the stand-in for Giratina clarified, to which Cobalion slowly nodded, as, from the sound of things, the girl was a dreamer, and from the master swordwoman's experience, it was the dreamers of the day one had to be afraid of.

"(And the boy-)"

"(No one, really. A normal human boy destined to be nothing more than a footnote in the river of time, if he's lucky. Had this been the Days of Old, he'd be another faceless noble that would inevitably be married off to another faceless noble. Still, he has an urge to do right, something I'm sure you're more than familiar with,)" the apparition commented, causing the master swordswoman to snort, as yes, she recalled the many nobles from the Days of Old who stood against her and her peers. This, in spite of not only being a stupid decision at times, but living far better than everyone else and essentially having everything they could have ever wanted.

"(You say they're of no importance, yet you still choose this scenario for whatever reason,)" Cobalion observed while narrowing her eyes, something that made the phantom laugh under their breathe, as the stand-in for Girtania floated back to her original position.

"(All will be revealed soon enough, all you need do is use what you learned to navigate through this. Oh, and simulation this may be, how you perform here will dictate what your future lessons will consist of so do try your best,)" the phantom of Giratina informed the former lord of the Swords of Justice, causing Cobalion to slowly nod, as she looked over her shoulder at the group of beings she was going to interact with before glancing back at the apparition.

"(You're going through all this effort to rehabilitate me, why not just be rid of me?)" Cobalion inquired and it was if the temperature went down to uninhabitable levels as the stand-in leaned her giant face mere inches away from the master swordswoman. This had the effect of making the legendary in mortal form gulp, retract her head as far back as possible, and erratically backpedal before she bumped against the trunk of a tree.

"(I would have liked to do nothing more, and you know what that means, right? Cessation of existence; no death, no reincarnation, and no afterlife. Just oblivion, and considering what you and your comrades did while alive, it certainly would be a fate that would befit all of you,)" the Distortion World's master seethed with the fury of dragon laying waste to an entire continent, all while keeping her tone barely above a whisper. For her part, Cobalion after nearly shitting bricks, took a moment to compose herself before opening her mouth to speak, but no words seemed to come out.

"(Still, Mother insists that the beings she sends here be given a chance to reform before resorting to such measures, something I begrudgingly, but wholeheartedly, follow through with. With that in mind, I'll leave you to it, and remember, I'll always be watching,)" the embodiment of antimatter stated with a slight, predatory grin tugging at the corner of her lips, making Cobalion shudder, as the stand in disappeared in a flash of purple light. True to Giratina's words, the simulated world around Cobalion began to move where the group of humans and their supposed servant started to converse with one another as if nothing was amiss. Seeing that her "friend" was standing alone, the strange, jackal like pokemon approached the master swordswoman with narrowed eyes.

"(Sir Dmitri passes out and you can't be bothered to check on him!?)" the jackal like pokemon quietly snarled at the 'Mienshao,' causing Cobalion to raise a brow, briefly glance at the boy, and then back at her unusual looking kin.

"(I-I beg your pardon-)"

"(Don't play dumb; now go check on him before Lady Delia becomes truly enraged with you,)" the strange looking kin sharply cut off the former master of the Swords of Justice while flicking a subtle thumb over at the modern day dragon slayer. Glancing at the black haired girl, Cobalion grunted when she saw the dragon slayer's eyes flash a piercing, demonic red while glaring daggers at her. Huffing and puffing out her chest at being talked to in such a manner, Cobalion had half a mind to show both of them that they should hold their tongue when addressing her. She, however, managed to restrain herself and merely folded her arms.

"(I...I meant no harm. I will...check on our compatriot now. We both know how frail humans are, no?)" Cobalion commented, causing the jackal to snort before going back to practicing her martial arts. Grunting, the master swordswoman, in spite of the short conversation she had, she had gleaned a lot of information about this group, namely two names she could put to faces. Another was the personality of her jackal like kin; concerned for their loved ones, polite and taciturn, and respectful of their place.

She would have made a great ally in her court, but that was from another lifetime. Last, but not least, was the nature of the relationship between the boy and the body of the Mienshao she inhabited. They were close friends from the sound of things, most likely even more, but she had to get confirmation on either sort of relationship first before adjusting how she addressed the boy accordingly. Speaking of how exactly to address the boy…

"(Is there a psychic type among our number that can serve as a translator?)" Cobalion almost asked her jackal like kin, but refrained from doing so. She didn't want to tip them off even more that something was not quite right with their "friend." Steeling herself, the master swordswoman walked toward the boy who noticed her approached and turned to face her while not quite being able to look her in the eye. Grumbling, the former lord of the Swords of Justice cleared her throat, garnering the attention of the boy, as Cobalion suppressed her embarrassment and utilized the sign language from her time that she hoped was still relevant today.

"(Dmitri, are you well? Our ally informed me of what happened,)" 'Mienshao' asked the boy who confusedly tilted his head upon seeing the martial arts pokemon making these unknown hand gestures. Internally sighing, the master swordswoman wracked her head for another way to communicate with this human just as the boy scratched the back of his head and let out a soft, barely audible breathe.

"Maris, is there...something you wanted to tell me? Just, uh, say it" Dmitri sheepishly requested, causing the former lord of the Swords of Justice to want to shout 'Yes, that's what I've been trying to do!', but held her tongue.

"(So this boy can understand our kin without the need of a translator? A rare trait for a human to understand the superior language, but one that makes communication easier,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice internally mused as she spared a glance at the rest of the group and saw the dragon slayer and her jackal like kin giving her the stink eye, something that confused the chocolate haired girl to no end.

"(I...came to check on you. Are you well or do you still need rest before we move on? Given your...body type, I-we would understand if you needed more time to recuperate,)" Cobalion reasoned, something that caused the boy to shake his head and affirm that he was ready to go. Nodding, the former lord of the Swords of Justice prepared to walk away to continue to try and use the information she had learned to figure out what kind of situation she was in exactly, but stopped when she noticed the boy's body language. Clearly, more needed to be said, the boy just needed some coaxing is all.

"(Speak freely,)" 'Maris' urged while folding her arms, causing the boy to purse his lips, look away, and rub the back of his head.

"Um, did I...did I do something that made you ignore me? If I did, I-I'm sorry," the boy stated in voice barely above a whisper, all while looking down at his shoes causing 'Maris' to tilt her head. Given their species' differences, it would stand to reason that this boy, who was clearly a trainer, did indeed do something to this Mienshao to cause her to lash out. She was most likely tired of being in an unequal partnership, but, without anyway of confirming it, the master swordswoman chose her next words carefully.

"(No, not that I can recall,)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice assured Dmitri, causing the boy to nod, wipe away a tear forming at the corner of his eye, and grin at her.

"It's not your fault; I guess I haven't really moved on from Dad's death as much as I would have liked, huh?" Dmitri remarked, to which the master swordswoman could only offer a shrug in response, as, before she could ask where exactly they were headed, her jackal like kin sauntered up them with her paws clasped behind her back.

"(Sir Dmitri, I'm glad that you're well considering last night's unfortunate event. If you don't mind, Lady Maris and I have some much needed sparring to catch up on,)" Cobalion's jackal like kin politely requested, all while looking into 'Maris's' eyes the entire time. Furrowing her brow, the master swordswoman did her best to keep her expression neutral as the boy slowly nodded while confusedly looking at his ally.

"Luka, we're all friends here. You don't need to all me 'sir' or 'mister,' okay?" Dmitri gently assured the being now known as Luka, who uncertainly pursed her lips and anxiously fidgeted around a bit before reluctantly nodding.

"(As you wish...si-I mean, Dmitri,)" Cobalion's jackal like kin slowly replied as if she were trying to pronounce a long, complicated word she had never seen, before locking eyes with 'Maris' and gesturing at an open patch of field not too far from their camp. Sighing, the master swordswoman followed Luka where her jackal like in took position at one side of their battlefield while Cobalion stood at the other.

"(Well then, let's see if you've improved since our first engagement during Mrs. Wright's birthday celebration,)" Cobalion's jackal like kin remarked while slipping into a stance with her lead paw held up like in an orthodox boxing position save for the appendage remaining open handed, and her other, clenched paw being held up in front of her face. In addition, both her lead and back foot were facing forward to facilitate turning on a dime if the need arose, complete with bending her front foot slightly so as to not put too much weight on it.

"(Indeed,)" was Cobalion's evasive reply as she observed the fighting stance her opponent was in and pondered what use it could be before shaking these thoughts aside. Leaning forward slightly and outstretching her paws, the former lord of the Swords of Justice locked eyes with Luka who gave her a piercing, wary stare.

"(I always thought you favored striking over grappling,)" Luka commented as she began circling her "friend" who responded in kind, all while glaring daggers at 'Maris.' Internally chastising herself, but acknowledging she had no way of knowing how exactly this Mienshao fought, the master swordswoman said nothing in response as they continued to circle one another. After what seemed like an eternity of doing nothing but staring at each other, Luka surged toward Cobalion where, to the master swordswoman, it looked like she was rearing back for a roundhouse kick.

Readying herself, Cobalion's prediction seemed to be true as Luka did indeed bring her leg up and went through the motion of throwing out a kick...only to use the momentum to suddenly throw a punch at her sparring partner's face. Widening her eyes for a brief moment, the former master of the Swords of Justice ducked underneath the punch, wrapped her arms around Luka's waist, rolled with the impetus, and tossed the jackal to the ground with a swift, yet forceful swing of her hips. Feeling as if the wind got knocked out of her, Luka lay in a heap, trying to catch her breathe, as 'Maris' capitalized on her advantage by wrapping her arm sleeves around one of the jackal's arms and pressing her knee atop her sparring partner's chest. Huffing, the aura pokemon wondered when 'Maris' got so heavy as it felt like she was trying to push the moon out of orbit, only to grimace when Cobalion slowly twisted her arm and forced more of her weight down onto her.

"(Yield,)" Cobalion demanded, causing Luka to glare daggers at her, but begrudgingly nodded nonetheless. Relinquishing her grip on her jackal like kin, 'Maris' got off of Luka, unwrapped her arm sleeves around the aura pokemon's arm, and stood back up where she offered a paw to the jackal. Scoffing, the aura pokemon pushed the appendage away, causing Cobalion to retract her paw, as Luka after sucking in a breathe, slowly got up while clutching her gut.

"(Are...you well?)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice asked the aura pokemon, who curtly nodded in response, before limping away with pained grunts escaping her lips with each movement. Reaching the dragon slayer, the aura pokemon, with an agonizing grimace, leaned against a nearby tree and slowly sat down as Delia stopped packing up and locked eyes with the aura pokemon.

"(Lady Delia-I mean, Delia, I have...news-)"

"That it isn't Maris? Yeah, I had my suspicions and your sparring match all but confirmed it," Delia quietly interrupted, causing Luka to nod, as whoever this being was, they were far too powerful and had a vastly different fighting style from their friend.

"(What should be done?)" the aura pokemon inquired, causing the dragon slayer to put a hand on her chin, as she saw 'Maris' approach Catherine and ask the heiress of what their plans as of today were. When the modern day noble informed the former lord of the Swords of Justice that they were going to Jubilife City as soon as they were done packing, Cobalion slowly nodded and walked away with a paw on her chin.

"For now, nothing. They seem to be just as confused about this as we are and for the time being, they seem to mean no harm," the dragon slayer replied, making the aura pokemon huff, as she warily glanced at the doppelganger over her shoulder, who gave her a short, but courteous nod upon noticing this, before looking back at Delia.

"(And if she is of malicious intent?)" Luka pressed, causing Delia to say nothing as she spared a reluctant glance at the ultra ball on her belt and then at 'Maris' before letting out a long, heavy sigh.

"If they do intend to hurt us, we'll do whatever we can to free Maris from their control. However, we have to be prepared for...you know," Delia grimly answered, causing Luka to release a breathe and slowly nod, as she, after forcing down the pain to some extent, helped the dragon slayer pack their belongings. Suddenly, a large explosion rang out throughout the area, sending a small maelstrom of dirt, leaves, and pebbles flying in the groups direction. Grimacing, the former lord of the Swords of Justice shielded her eyes with her forearm with Delia and Luka doing the same. Catherine, meanwhile, tightly shut her eyes while clinging to a tree as if her life depended on it while Dmitri sprawled onto the ground face down while covering his head with his arms.

"(What in Arceus's name?)" Cobalion murmured as, after the dust settled, the former master of the Swords of Justice broke out into a sprint in the direction of the blast...only to abruptly grind to a halt when she saw Dmitri running alongside her.

"(It would be best if you stayed here,)" the master swordswoman shortly stated while giving the boy a gentle shove back to camp. Before Dmitri could protest, let alone get a single word out, 'Maris' was gone, making the battle ace sigh heavily and walk back to a camp with his shoulders slumped. Meanwhile, the master swordswoman continued to run in the direction of explosion where, to her surprise, more and more thunderous booms rang out, sending more of her unknown, flying kin scattering into the sky. That all but confirmed it, she was definitely in a region not known to her.

But why? Why would the Unovan natives travel to this...this area of all places? What could they stand to gain here of what they couldn't get back home? Shaking these thoughts aside, the former master of the Swords of Justice continued to running to the source of the detonations and came upon a grisly sight. A feline esque kin of hers with blue fur covering the front of its body, black fur covering the back, and a thunderbolt like tail was covered with bruises, lacerations, and gashes while surrounded by some sort of hell hound and a hyena like kin of hers. However, what stood out to her was the human girl, who seemed to be the same age as Delia, if a bit older, standing over her feline kin with her teeth clenched, her hands balled into fists, and dark, angry scowl plastered across her face.

"I can't fucking believe you! How much of a weakling do you have to be to lose to that sniveling brat's little turd of a pokemon!?" the girl roared at Cobalion's downed kin while giving it a hard, stiff kick to its ribs, making the creature yelp and curl into a fetal position. Feeling her blood boiling, the former lord of the Swords of Justice focused her energy and produced a shining, razor sharp blade that seemed to be of pure light. From there, the master swordswoman surged toward the aggressors while lashing out with one of her arm sleeves against her hyena like kin, smacking it across the face and leaving a nasty gash that bleed profusely. While it, along with its cohorts, were stunned, Cobalion then wrapped it around the girl's ankle and yanked.

With a surprised yelp, the human girl whom Cobalion already despised fell backwards and hit the ground back of the head first, causing her arms, legs, and body to begin twitching erratically. The hell hound esque servant of the human girl, however, retained the presence of mind to spew a powerful, giant blast of searing hot, black flames that sounded like thousands of pained, tortured screams of people being burnt alive while desperately, but futilely trying to escape their fate. Widening her eyes, but quickly regaining her composure, the former lord of the Swords of Justice jumped to the side to avoid the advancing wall of pitch black, scorching fire. She was, however, a step too slow as the flames grazed her shoulder, upper arm, and inside of her thigh, making her briefly double over as the pain was unlike anything she had ever felt before.

Forcing the agony down, Cobalion advanced on her last foe who spat another gigantic salvo of black flames at her, but this time she was ready. Dodging to the side, the master swordswoman lashed out with one of her arm sleeves, snagging the hell hound's snout, and tugged it toward her where she brutally ran it through with her blade. Coughing up blood, the hell hound locked eyes with the former lord of the Swords of Justice before going absolutely still, blood pouring out its now gaping mouth all the while. Seeing that her hyena esque kin was beginning to regain its composure, Cobalion, with the hell hound still on her blade, grabbed the sword in a mordhau grip and swung it at her foe as if it were a club.

Howling in agony and spasming as the crossguard viciously embedded itself into its eyes where Cobalion roughly flung it to the ground by using the crossguard as a lever. While it lay crumpled on its belly, the master swordswoman raised her sword and brought it crashing down on the beast's skull with a loud, gut wrenching crack. Saying nothing as she looked down at the beast whose head was reduced to a visceral, bloody mush, the former master of the Swords of Justice dissipated her blade, causing the body of the hell hound to crash to the ground in a heap. From there, the master swordswoman approached her feline like kin...only for the one she wanted to help to scramble to their feet and back as far away as possible from 'Maris.'

"(S-stay back! D-don't come any closer!)" the being the master swordswoman intended to help cried out and discharged whatever remained of its electrical reserves at 'Maris,' making Cobalion take a step back.

"(Please, I only wish to help. I have allies who can treat your wounds-)"

"(I-I'm not going with you anywhere! N-not if it means m-meeting more people like you!)" Cobalion's feline like kin interrupted while taking off into the shrubbery, causing the master swordswoman to reach out to her, just as the rest of her 'allies' caught up with her.

"Maris, what...what did you do?" Dmitri said in a voice barely above a whisper as he surveyed the carnage, put a hand to his mouth, ran to a nearby bush, and vomited his breakfast from the morning. Delia, meanwhile, cringed when she saw the bodies of the hyena and the hell hound before leveling a harsh, fierce scowl in the master swordswoman's direction while Luka and Catherine knelt down next to the human girl, whom Cobalion realized had a resemblance to the latter.

"I...I can't believe she's here. What's she doing here instead of...you know," Catherine remarked while examining the neutralized trainer's wounds, making the aura pokemon somberly nod before beckoning her partner to stand.

"(Whatever her business here was, it can't of been good. Our friend, however, seems to have made sure that she won't be harming anyone ever again,)" the jackal commented while folding her arms and narrowing her eyes at 'Maris,' causing Cobalion to grunt as she gripped her charred arm that was still flaring up in pain for some reason. While Luka wanted to tear this being a new one, she instead sighed softly, shook her head, and locked eyes with Delia, Dmitri, and 'Maris.'

"(We'll go after Shinx; you guys on ahead to Jubilife City and reserve some rooms for us,)" Luka suggested, causing the dragon slayer to nod, as the aura pokemon sped after the feline with Catherine in tow. When the duo were out of sight, Delia took the ultra ball off of her belt and walked right up to the master swordswoman who stood her ground, but leaned her head back slightly.

"This isn't like you, Maris. You would have brutalized them, sure, but you wouldn't have gone as far as you did just now-"

"(You weren't there; the human, that...trainer, she was torturing my kin, just like any other one would. All for a loss from what I've heard in your gladiator games that my kin are either forced to participate in, coerced into so they can make ends meet for their human overlords, or...you know what? I don't have to justify myself, certainly not to a poor facsimile of a dragon slayer, and especially not to a human who claims to be one of the good trainers,)" Cobalion cut off, eliciting a very, harsh, dragon like growl from Delia as she nearly sent out the being dwelling within the ultra ball only to stop when Dmitri got in between them.

"Guys, come on, we're friends. L-look, I...I'm sure that...that there was a lot going on and she didn't mean to go as far as she did," Dmitri weakly reasoned, causing Delia to huff and run up her nose, while the master swordswoman grunted...just as the dragon slayer suddenly yanked him out of the way. Feeling her instincts screaming at her to dodge, Cobalion obliged and leaped backwards as a humongous ball of flames barreled towards them which was so hot it burned most, if not all the nearby foliage, and melted the earth beneath it while tearing up the ground wherever it went. The sphere of fire then abruptly ground to halt and faded away, revealing some sort of chimp like kin that had a wellspring of flames on the top of its head and wrists. Turning her attention away from the primate, Cobalion saw that the human girl, whom she and Luka presumed dead, was standing, albeit shakily, while gripping the back of her blood soaked head.

"Infernape, get us out of here! We'll come back for them later!" the human girl the master swordswoman thought she neutralized commanded, causing the primate to let out a bestial howl before slamming its fists on the ground and sending out a giant tidal wave of flames in all directions. While Delia and Dmitri were already airborne by riding on the back of some unknown, orange dragon with antennas on its head, Cobalion was left back on earth, in spite of Dmitri's protests. The former lord of the Swords of Justice refused to be felled so easily, however, as she summoned her blade to her, reared her arms back, turned slightly, and narrowed her eyes. Tightly gripping the hilt to the point that the veins on her arm began showing, the master swordswoman sucked in a breathe, twisted her hips, and swung, sending out a pressurized jet of air that sent debris flying and kicking up a copious amount of dust. More importantly, however, the hellish flames parted away from Cobalion, leaving her unscathed, causing Dmitri's jaw to drop while Dragonite and Delia narrowed their eyes as they descended to the ground.

"That sword of light...and her fighting style, could it be?" Delia murmured to Dragonite, who could only shrug in response, but nevertheless kept himself on guard as he knelt down so his trainer and their friend could dismount.

"(I can't say, but that's definitely not Maris, no matter how much Dmitri wants to believe it,)" Dragonite whispered back while gesturing at Haxorus' and Druddigon's pokeballs, causing the dragon slayer to subtly nod.

"W-wow, Maris. W-where did you learn to do that? Not from me, I bet," Dmitri stated with a low laugh while rubbing the back of his head and looking down the entire time while addressing the martial arts pokemon.

"(It's a...the human trainer survived and it seems she will make another attempt on our lives in the future. We should exercise caution when traveling from here on out, in case of an ambush,)" was Cobalion's evasive response, causing Delia to snort, but begrudgingly nod, as she moved her hand away from the pokeballs on her belt.

"You should have killed her when you had the chance," a voice bitterly remarked, causing the group to look in the direction of the noise and saw Catherine, with a mostly healed Shinx, riding on her shoulder with Luka in tow. Raising a brow, the former lord of the Swords of Justice folded her arms as she glanced at the modern day noble girl, causing her feline kin to do her best to avoid Cobalion's gaze.

"You know her?" Delia interjected, causing the master swordswoman to huff, clench her fist, and close her mouth as she stared at the dragon slayer and the modern day noble with a paw on her hip.

"I do; she's my sister and trust me, there's no length she won't stoop to and no body count too high to get what she wants. Sorry to be blunt, but you would have saved us, hell, everyone a lot of trouble if you bothered to double tap," Catherine brusquely huffed, making Cobalion scoff, as what the modern day noble girl said certainly would have been a line of thinking she would have been proud of in the past. Now, however…

"(Killing in the heat of battle is one thing, but...executing a downed opponent is another,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice uncertainly cut in, making the dragon slayer stare at her and do a double take. Catherine, however, just snorted and locked eyes with 'Maris' while Luka grunted and put her paws on her hips.

"And what would you do? Turn her over to the police!? She has enough influence, not to mention, money to get away scot-free, no matter the charges brought against her!" the modern day noble sharply retorted, to which the master swordswoman fell silent, only for Dmitri to fortunately intervene before an awkward silence could befall them.

"...Maris has a point; if she had finished your sister off while she was down, it wouldn't have been self-defense and more like-"

"I know it is and you know what!? That's probably the only way she's ever going to stop being a threat!" the modern day noble interrupted the dragon slayer with Shinx, after a bit of hesitation, to vehemently nod in agreement, while Luka's expression remained completely neutral throughout this whole debacle. Releasing a breathe, the former lord of the Swords of Justice carefully considered everything that had been said and took into consideration her experiences, both old and new, before speaking her mind.

"(I...agree with the noble; considering her sister's behavior, she would take advantage of any mercy we may show,)" the master swordswoman hesitantly stated, hoping that she made the right decision in the matter, causing Catherine, after a brief pause, to nod in approval while Delia gave her the stink eye and shook her head.

"Look, this isn't a matter with a clear cut solution, but we need to discuss something else. Maris, you never would have went as far as you did just now so until we can get you checked out, you'll need to stay in your pokeball for your safety and ours," the dragon slayer proclaimed and to emphasize how serious she was, she sent out the remainder of her team save for the being still dwelling with the ultra ball. Feeling her breathe hitch, the master swordswoman clenched her teeth and backed away with energy pulsating in her paw as the three dragons, along with Luka made their way toward her. They mean to put her in one of those spherical prisons!? Never, they would have to kill her first!

"G-guys, wait! You know Maris doesn't like to be put in there!" Dmitri cried out while getting in between them and extending his arms, causing Luka to step forward, gently, but firmly, grab him, and drag him away. While doing so, the aura pokemon grabbed the pokeball on his belt with her tail and tossed it to the dragon slayer who caught it without looking and continued to advance on the master swordswoman. Forming the same blade of light that she used to strike down her evil kin serving the noble's sister, Cobalion got into the ready position, causing Delia and her dragons, sensing the power emanating from it, to wisely back away. However, the dragon slayer would not be so easily deterred as, after a moment's hesitation, she glanced at the ultra ball on her belt and, with a heavy sigh, threw it on the ground at her feet.

With a might yell, the light from the device materialized into a daunting, three headed dragon that the former master of the Swords of Justice was more than familiar with. Taming one in the Days of Old, whether they be human or pokemon, was considered nigh impossible, and the master swordswoman lost count how many fearless fools were torn limb from limb, atomized by draconic fire, or crushed into a bloody paste because they thought they would be the one to have command over these powerful, yet savage beasts. Cobalion thought she would be a witness to yet another case of these monsters striking down their supposed masters when it rounded on Delia and gave her a feral, animalistic snarl, but ultimately relented after inspecting the situation and stood shoulder to shoulder with his fellow dragons.

"So what's it going to be?" Delia huffed as Luka joined them and summoned a staff that looked like a long bone, having given the responsibility of holding Dmitri to Catherine who was having no difficulty in doing so. Cobalion, after remembering this was a simulation, but also recalling that Giratina was watching her every move like a hawk, slammed her blade on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust and sending her aggressors flying back with concussive blast of white light, and fled the area while they were stunned.

"M-Maris, wait!" Dmitri shouted at Cobalion's rapidly retreating form while reaching out to her as Delia, Haxorus, Druddigon, Dragonite, and Hydreigon, after regaining their bearings groggily got back up while clutching their heads. Luka, meanwhile, shut her eyes, clenched her teeth, and rolled onto her side as the most she could manage in her current condition was getting onto one knee.

"Let her go, Dmitri. We'll have to get some help first before going after her," the dragon slayer said, causing the boy to hesitantly nod, as Catherine put Luka's arm over her neck and helped her partner to her feet. Meanwhile, as the former lord of the Swords of Justice was fleeing, the world around her began to break down into a bright, blinding purple light. Stopping in her tracks, Cobalion tightly shut her eyes and shielded her face with her forearm as the light faded away, making the master swordswoman open her eyes and found herself back in her prison.

Grumbling when she saw that yes, she still was in the form of a Mienshao, Cobalion huffed and winced as the burnt part of her bodies flared up in pain. She didn't get to inspect her burn wounds further as Giratina herself, not a phantom stand-in, began to take shape. Reluctantly standing at attention while trying her best to ignore the simmering, yet undeniable pain that would not go away for some reason, the master swordswoman saw the master of the Distortion World appear before her and look down at her with a wooden gaze.

"(Let's discuss your decisions, shall we? Firstly, the way you addressed your allies was...passable, but left something to be desired. Your remark toward the jackal before checking on the boy, your thoughts in regards to communication with him, and your scathing statement towards the dragon slayer come to mind. You also left the boy behind to investigate, not to mention thinking he needed more time to recover because of his 'body type' as you put it,)" the Distortion World's overlord mentioned, making Cobalion bite her tongue, as she didn't realize that Giratina was privy to even her internal dialogue.

"(Moving on though, your response to the little skirmishes you got into need to be addressed. You showed restraint when neutralizing the jackal so I will give you credit for that. However, the way you dealt with the human trainer and our kin serving her was...less than ideal. Swinging your blade around with a corpse hanging off of it, showering you in blood in the process, tends to inspire terror in those you wish to aid,)" Giratina dryly remarked, causing the former lord of the Swords of Justice to open her mouth to say something, but closed it when nothing came to mind while rubbing her burnt shoulder.

"(Other than that, you approve? How I chose to deal with them was justified?)" Cobalion hesitantly ventured, causing the lord of the Distortion World to resist the urge to mockingly laugh.

"(It is never justified to take a life, though sometimes one must unfortunately do so to defend themselves or others. It is important, however, not to get into the mentality of sacrificing millions to save billions,)" Giratina responded, causing the former lord of the Swords of Justice to grunt, as while she was no stranger to nuanced morality, it had previously been in service to her and her former cause.

"(Lastly, we must address two key situations you encountered in the simulation. The first was your opinion in regards on how to deal with the human trainer. The other was how you responded to the dragon slayer wanting to put you into a pokeball,)" Giratina said, causing the former master of the Swords of Justice, after grabbing the burn wound on the inside of her thigh with a wince for a brief moment, to grunt.

"(Surely, you're not going to lambaste me for the former? The concept of mercy is lost on her!)" the master swordswoman shouted, making the ghostly dragon huff, as she considered showing Cobalion instances of where she showed this same line of thinking, but decided against it.

"(Of course it is, but if you're to be reincarnated in the material plane, you cannot be walking around with this kind of mindset. Recall your sparring session with the jackal; you knew fully well that she suspected you, but you didn't brutalize and subsequently threaten her to hold her tongue in order to maintain your cover like you would have in the past,)" the Distortion World's one and only master observed, causing the master swordswoman to grunt and look up at the daunting titan of antimatter despite her underlying fear of the ghostly dragon.

"(That...that is not the same-)"

"(Isn't it? You had no reason not to believe she wouldn't strike back when you let up, yet you did so anyway. Moreover, you and the dragon slayer nearly came to blows, and you could have done any number of maneuvers to neutralize her and force her compliance, yet you didn't,)" the ghostly dragon cut off the master swordswoman, causing Cobalion to try and formulate some sort of response, but nothing came to mind.

"(Fine, I'll grant you those points, but I will not stand for being put in one of those spherical prisons! I may be willingly going along with your lessons, but that is a step too far!)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice exclaimed, causing the titan of antimatter to regard Cobalion with a wooden gaze for what seemed like an eternity before letting out a breathe.

"(You will eventually have to acquiesce to being put in one to advance your lessons,)" the lord of antimatter declared, causing the warrior from the Days of Old to be taken aback before narrowing her eyes.

"(And why is that? To show how submissive to humanity you me to be? To show that I am happy and willing to throw my freedom away?)" Cobalion remarked with as much venom in her tone as she could muster, making the master of the Distortion World resist the urge to roll her eyes and instead lowered her head to gaze into her prisoner's eyes.

"(To show that you are willing to trust humanity again, like you did aeons ago. The ideal bond between trainers and our kin, is that our kind willingly lets themselves be put into pokeballs after the trainers have shown that they can be trusted. Even then, some of our kind prefer to not be put in one, like that jackal and the Mienshao you assumed the form of,)" Giratina responded calmly, but firmly, making the warrior from the Days of Old consider the ghostly dragon's words before locking eyes with her again.

"(Is there a way to show I am willing to trust humans again without being put in one of those accursed orbs?)" Cobalion ventured, making the lord of the Distortion World nod, but before the master swordswoman could ask Giratina to elaborate, the ghostly dragon vanished, leaving her in complete darkness once again. Just like last time, another purple will o' the wisp appeared in front of the master swordswoman, causing Cobalion to follow the small flame to another cascading, bursting rift. Sucking in a breathe and letting it back out, the former lord of the Swords of Justice shielded her eyes as she stepped into it, doing her best to ignore the tingling sensation that nearly left her entire body numb, and, just like last time, blacked out.

"(Let's start from where you left off, shall we?)" the warrior from the Days of Old heard the voice of Giratina comment within her head, causing Cobalion to shake the cobwebs in her skull away, slowly open her eyes, and found herself standing atop a branch.

"(They mentioned a settlement...Jubilife City if I recall. I should head there and see if I can find a map to get a better lay of the land,)" the master swordswoman murmured as she proceeded to deftly jump from branch to branch while using her arm sleeves to hook around the trunks of the tree whenever she needed to. As she was doing so, the dragon slayer's words rang throughout her head. Get some help before going after her? She doubted this group of humans could rally a group strong enough to confront her, but then again, she thought the same of Karen, and Cobalion would rather not remember how their battle went down.

As she was hopping from tree to tree, and wincing when the pain from her burn wounds still did not fade away, she saw Dmitri aimlessly wandering around in the distance. No doubt searching for her, possibly with the alleged backup the dragon slayer and the noble managed to recruit a stone's throw away. Should she make her presence known to him? Pondering on this question for a moment, the former lord of the Swords of Justice scanned the area and sensed for any nearby energy signatures. Sensing that the dragon slayer and her wyrms were carrying the camp supplies, the noble and the jackal were at some sort of medical center with her feline kin in what was most likely the settlement Cobalion was looking for, and, more distressingly, the human trainer and her fire primate on a collision course with the boy, the knight errant flung out one of her arm sleeves. Gasping at the sudden length of fur coiling around his waist, Dmitri proceeded to yelp as he was tugged upwards, caught in one arm by Cobalion, and then had a meaty paw clamp over his mouth.

"(Quiet, danger lurks nearby,)" the warrior from the Days of Old quietly urged while pointing below, causing the battle ace to look down and jolt when he saw the Catherine's sister and her Infernape pass by them. Nodding, the boy kept quiet, causing Cobalion to remove her paw from his mouth, where Dmitri took the chance to get a better look at his lifetime friend. Once he did so, he saw Delia, Luka's, and Catherine's point that something was off about Maris.

For one, she was a lot beefier and solidly built than usual. While he knew that the martial arts pokemon drank muscle milk heartily, along with other kinds of food in order to gain weight, she was still rather skinny. Thus, this kind of radical change could not have happened over night. Secondly, besides the relatively fresh burn wounds, the boy noticed saw scarring on her face, chest, and arms that were definitely not there before. Sure, Maris loved to scrap, but the scarring suggested someone had tried to kill her in the past. While they weren't exactly beloved back in Unova, Dmitri could hardly think of anyone who disliked them to the point of murder.

Another was his friend's rather liberal use of her arm sleeves. While Maris did use them from time to time, she much preferred to get up close and personal, much less use them to lasso and pull unsuspecting friends. What stood out, however, was her expression; the martial arts pokemon usually wore a neutral gaze that belied the crude warmth and playfulness she showed to those she considered her friends and the quiet, but red hot, volcanic rage that bubbled just under the surface. When he looked into her eyes now, he saw none of that. Instead, 'Maris' had a solemn, wizened gaze plastered across her face that only hid her cold, cynical fury towards the world at large and the more informal, but nevertheless stunted manner in which she addressed those she trusted. What had happened to cause such a change in her?

"M-Maris, can we talk-"

"(I will shepherd you to the settlement the noble and her partner took my feline kin, but after that we must part ways,)" the master swordswoman interrupted, making the boy sigh and deflate slightly as Cobalion secured him in the crook of her arm, startling him, and, after making sure it was safe, began leaping from tree to tree.

"Maris, stop! I can walk!" Dmitri indignantly cried out, making the former lord of the Swords of Justice stop, glance at the boy, and give him an annoyed look as she ignored him and continued on her way.

"(I'm aware, but it will be faster this way. And please refrain from shouting; the trainer and her primate are still on the hunt for us and I would prefer it if we did not get dragged into an avoidable fight,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice responded, causing Dmitri to huff, struggle, and writhe in Cobalion's inescapable, iron grip.

"Maris, I mean it! Let me go!" the boy yelled while continuing to to futilely try and free himself, causing Cobalion to wonder to the higher forces that governed their universe how the noble's sister and her relative that served her didn't hear him. Arriving at the edge of the settlement known as Jubilife City, the warrior from the Days of Old set Dmitri down who grumbled, folded his arms, and looked away from 'Maris.'

"(The noble-)"

"Her name is Catherine and her friend's name is Luka," Dmitri bluntly huffed, causing the warrior from the Days of Old to raise a brow at the boy's sudden change in demeanor, but thought it best not to dwell on it.

"(I...of course. Catherine and Luka are in Jubilife City's medical center-)"

"It's called a pokemon center," Dmitri cut off the master swordswoman, making Cobalion grumble, briefly narrow her eyes at the boy, and fold her arms.

"(You have something to say?)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice inquired with a terse grunt, causing Dmitri to purse his lips, ball his hands into fists, and lock eyes with Cobalion.

"Yeah, I do! Delia and Luka are right; you haven't been yourself recently! Come with me to the pokemon center so we can get you checked out and Nurse Joy will be able to tell us what's going on," Dmitri pleaded, making the warrior from the Days of Old scoff, as the last thing she wanted was some human doctor poking and prodding her in order to come up with some diagnosis.

"(To do that, you mean to put me in one of those accursed cages-)"

"No; they understand that not all pokemon like being in their pokeballs so they'll treat them whether they're in them or not," the boy cut off the former leader of the Swords of Justice, making Cobalion put a paw on her chin. Getting treatment without being put in a pokeball? It sounded too good to be true, but the boy, despite giving her no reason to distrust him, was still human so she had to decide her next actions carefully.

"(If I see that this Nurse Joy is performing treatment on my kin as you say, I will undergo the check-up. If not, I will depart and continue to try and find a way home,)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice responded, making Dmitri pout, but nod nonetheless, as he gestured for Cobalion to follow him. Just as she prepared to do so, both heard and felt the large, thunderous discharge off in the distance which nearly knocked Dmitri off his feet. Grabbing the boy's arm so he would stay upright, the former lord of the Swords of Justice gazed in the direction of the blast and saw a large plume of smoke smoldering up in the air.

"(That came in the direction the dragon slayer, er, Delia and her wyrms are. Go to the pokemon center; I'll handle this,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice urged, causing the boy to vehemently shake his head as he came to the same realization she did. Sighing, Cobalion, not wanting to get into another argument, hoisted Dmitri over her shoulder and, with blinding speed, arrived at the medical center, set him down near the entrance, and gave him a gentle shove towards the double doors.

"Maris, no! I want to help!" Dmitri protested only for it to fall on deaf ears as the warrior from the Days of Old grabbed him by his arm, albeit not in a crushing grip, when he tried to run in the direction of the blast anyway. Tiring of the boy's struggles, Cobalion tugged the boy towards her, making his breathe hitch, and then leaned her face so close to his that their noses were almost touching.

"(Boy, you listen and you listen close. You are a human, and one that has not demonstrated any sort of ability or martial prowess to match the might of my kind. If things take a turn for the worse, and they will, I will not be able to safeguard you,)" Cobalion brutally, yet honestly, laid things out for Dmitri, who, after pausing in order to take a moment to process the master swordswoman's words, let out a heavy sigh and reluctantly nodded.

"(Good, now as I said, wait here and do not come looking for us until it is safe. I will return, ideally with as many of our allies alive as possible,)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice declared as she noticed Luka exit the pokemon center, hand Shinx to Catherine who looked at the cloud of smoke with a thousand yard stare.

"No, Delia," the noble said in a voice barely above a whisper, causing the recently healed Shinx to look up at the chocolate haired girl and lick her cheek in an attempt to comfort her, but didn't seem to register the show of affection.

"(Sis, let's go! Every second counts!)" Luka hollered, causing the master swordswoman to nod, as she gave one last look at Dmitri and Catherine before speeding away from the area with the aura pokemon in tow.

"(I know you do not trust me-)"

"(With good reason; Maris would never behave the way you did. Look, I don't know who you are or why you're in control of my friend's body, but if you help us here, I'll be willing to give you a chance, but not without some reservations. Just work on your attitude in the hereafter, particularly towards humans, and especially towards a certain boy,)" Luka advised while shooting a not so subtle glare at Cobalion, making the master swordswoman grumble, but otherwise nod as she acknowledged, albeit begrudgingly, that she could have handled the matter better.

"(Very well. Now then, the noble's, er, Catherine's sister. What other members of our kin should we expect to face?)" the warrior from the Days of Old inquired as the simmering, grating pain from the burn wounds she received from the hell hound was still not fading away for some reason.

"(I do not know; she's rotates her team weekly save for a few that she always has on hand. The fact that she chose to strike back not too long after our last encounter-)" Luka started to explain only to be cut off as another thunderous explosion rang out, forcing the duo to shield their faces from the resulting debris and dust. Upon hearing a pained, agonizing howl off in the distance, the duo pushed their bodies to the breaking point to get to their destination.

"(Means she must have pulled out all the stops in order to settle the score with us,)" the aura pokemon finished as she felt the dragon slayer's life force fading by the second, something the warrior from the Days of Old sensed as well. Remaining silent, but readying her blade of light with Luka following suit by using her aura to forge a staff that look like an exaggerated femur bone, the duo arrived on the scene and it was not a pretty sight. For one, Druddigon was down, lying completely still in a pool of his own blood, with a copious amount of his scales either shattered to pieces or ripped off his body entirely. If that wasn't enough, one the wings on his back were viciously pried off and one of the horns on his head were severed. Druddigon's mate, meanwhile, had one of his eyes completely swollen shut, several gnarly abrasions that exposed the muscle underneath his skin marring his arms, legs, chest, and back, and a deep cut right above his eyes that made seeing the rest of his opponent's relentlessly assailing almost impossible seeing that he was near constantly blinking away blood.

Not helping matters is that while his one of his wings wasn't torn off, one of them was broken, meaning the jolly dragon could only manage to zip in one direction or the other with his remaining wing in swift, intense, yet brief bursts. Haxorus was faring a bit better, having both of his axe jaws still in tact, but he didn't escape unscathed as one of his toe claws was completely torn from his foot, all the scales on one of his arms were sheered off, and he was covered in gruesome, blackish-blueish bruises. Hydreigon, the beast Cobalion now knew that Delia was holding back, was doing the best out of everyone, but he had a nasty, long cut across the neck of his two of his heads that would have decapitated them had he not back stepped in time.

Delia herself, meanwhile, seemed to be in the most peril as one of her arms was charred pitch black, one of the blood vessels in her eye had popped, causing the life giving liquid to turn her sclera crimson, her lip was completely busted open. To top it all off, she was covered in savage bite marks that made it clear that her attackers tossed and turned their heads to try get a piece of her and deep lacerations that implied that her assailants tried to tear into her to gain access to the vital organs within. All this while at the mercy of Alice who was kneeing and slugging her across the face with the dragon slayer covering to soak up as much of the damage as possible. Unlike his allies, while Hydreigon's wings remained mostly intact, a few of the feathers were plucked off, meaning he occasionally wobbled mid-flight and unintentionally nose dived head towards the ground.

"(Alice, cease!)" Luka roared as she used extreme speed to immediately close the gap between them and thrust her staff right between the heiress's eyes. Widening her eyes and unable to process the change in situation in time, Alice grimaced and tightly gnashed her teeth as her head snapped back upon the blow landing, sending her harshly skidding across the ground.

"(How is she?)" 'Maris' asked as she attempted to back step away from a punch from some sort of blue, four armed creature, but some sort of invisible force kept her in place. Planting her feet and tensing her muscles, Cobalion placed the flat of the blade in front of her and braced it with the meaty part of her forearm. Gnashing her teeth as she felt as a tremor traveled throughout her body upon the blow landing, the master swordswoman redirected her foe's fist off to the side, making them uncontrollably stagger forward.

"(Not well; we need to retreat! There's too many of them for us to fight effectively; can you grab him?)" the jackal hollered while gesturing at Druddigon as Cobalion, discerning that the four armed creature was a fighting type and the invisible force keeping her in place was her opponent's ability, summoned deceptively strong psychokinetic energy.

"(I can; give me a moment!)" the warrior from the Days of Old shouted back as she encapsulated her skull with the psychic energy, used the crossguard of her blade to pull the four armed creature close, and proceeded to repeatedly and brutally smash her skull into her foe's head. When her opponent's cranium was reduced to a bloody, visceral mush, she shoved her twitching opponent away with her forearm and then used a back kick to stagger some sort of shark like dragon that attempted to assail her from behind. It was soon joined by another dragon, this one with a powerful, searing flame at the end of its tail, a daunting, rhinoceros like being with red highlights adorning its natural, rock like armor, and a purple, muscular, saurian like being with a single horn atop its head that oozed toxic venom.

Luka, meanwhile, was hanging in there, albeit barely against not only Infernape, but Salamence, Arbok, and Nidoqueen as well who, unfortunately, managed to cut her off from Delia. All the while, she noticed some sort of strange, crimson like aura emanating off of her foes, causing her to focus her senses on this weird, yet familiar energy. Gasping and feeling a cold chill go down her spine once she realized what it was, Luka, leaped away from the giant dome of flames Infernape encased himself when he tried to tackle in a mad frenzy, leaving a wild maelstrom of fire in his wake.

"(Maris, you see that aura some of our foes are encased in? They're shadow pokemon! A process meant to shut down all emotions in order to draw out a pokemon's strength! Something's different about this though! It feels more...sinister,)" the jackal shouted as she bashed away Arbok by thrusting the shaft of her staff into his face only to dry heave as Nidoqueen, bulked up to the extreme due to using superpower, slugged her in the gut with the force of a runaway train. Feeling her pupil's constrict to the size of pennies, Luka temporarily blacked out as she skidded across the ground, but regained consciousness in time and stopped her momentum by plunging her staff into the earth before she could crash against the side of a rock wall. Wiping away a trail of blood and bile pooling at the side of her mouth, Luka climbed to her feet and readied her weapon as she considered how exactly to deal with this situation. Seeing Hydreigon, Haxorus, and Dragonite fighting for their lives, Druddigon lying unmoving, and Cobalion fending off her various attackers while attempting to get to the fairy tale dragon, the jackal paused for a moment, glanced down at her paws, and, after a moment of hesitation, steeled her resolve.

"(I have no choice,)" the jackal grimly stated as, after dodging a humongous discharge of fire from Infernape that electrified the air and speeding away from giant salvo of draconic energy akin to tidal wave spewing from Salamence's gaping maw, Luka, with a solemn sigh, popped out her claws. Encasing one of them in metal which sharpened her natural weapons to a razor's edge and the other in demonic, purple, ectoplasm which gave it an insidious, phantom like appearance, the aura pokemon glared daggers at her four attackers which actually caused them to freeze up, even if it was only for a moment. The aura pokemon then turned their hesitation into dread when she opened her maw and let out a deafening, ear piercing screech that sounded like two giant pieces of rusty sheet metal slowly scratching against one another. While they were reeling, the jackal, quickly looked over her shoulder at the Delia who, after being brutally punt kicked in the face by Alice who bore the same strange, malevolent crimson aura like some of her pokemon, shattering her nose and splaying blood across the face, the dragon slayer's barely conscious form was roughly tossed onto the back of an Aerodactyl.

"Take her back to the hold! My dear sister will have to cut her journey short and run back home if she ever wants to see her again!" Alice barked, causing the apex predator to dutifully nod and emulate the behavior of its trainer by chomping down on Delia's scorched arm and viciously tearing the appendage from its socket. Giving a slight chuckle when the dragon slayer threw her head back and screamed to the top of her lungs, all with tears streaming down her face, Aerodactyl after chewing, savoring, and then swallowing the limb down its gullet, took off into the air while being flanked by a Skarmory and a battle scarred Flygon.

"(No, we can not let her take Delia!)" the jackal roared as she sped past the wall of attackers impeding her, albeit not before receiving a nasty burn wound on her leg thanks to Infernape, and leaped towards a tree. Using it as a springboard, Luka launched herself at the rapidly disappearing Aerodactyl, grabbed onto its foot, and plunged her claws into its gullet, making the apex predator, wince, but otherwise continued to maintain its current speed. When Flygon pulled back, flew underneath Aerodactyl, and tried to ram into the aura pokemon to get her off, Luka channeled draconic energy into her foot and kicked a sphere of azure energy at the battle scarred dragon. When the bug like dragon deftly evaded the projectile, Luka narrowed her eyes, causing the orb to detonate prematurely with a loud bang. This made the battle scarred dragon yelp as draconic energy burned its very being and disoriented it, wildly hurtle backwards, and collide back first with a trunk of tree where it crumpled to the ground on all fours.

"(Do not be a fool! We need to focus on the battle in front of us!)" 'Maris' roared while sliding underneath a wild swing from the shark like dragon's razor sharp fins, leaping over the follow up sweep from her draconic foe's tail, and parrying a stab at her gullet by the purple, saurian's horn oozing with potent poison. Seeing that the aura pokemon did not heed her words, the master swordswoman groaned before planting her foot against the purple horned saurian's chest and thrusting the tip of her sword into the shark like dragon's sternum when it was going in for another strike before breaking out into a sprint, leaving the rhinoceros in the dust.

"(By the Titans; do you three-)"

"(It doesn't matter, go!)" Haxorus hollered while gnashing his teeth together as an Aggron crashed into his chest shoulder first like plane crashing to the ground at full speed, making him retch, and just barely managed to hip toss his opponent onto the ground before diving to the side to avoid a flurry of razor sharp stones flung by an accompanying Tyranitar. Nodding, the warrior from the Days of Old gave chase as Dragonite, Hydreigon, and Haxorus, with mighty war cries, summoned meteors from a nearby asteroid belt, coated them in azure, draconic energy, and sent them flying towards all enemy combatants with a swing of their arms in order to give the master swordswoman some cover.

Clenching her teeth and tensing her muscles, Cobalion raised her sword overhead as the meteors, at first, appeared as nothing more than dots in the distance. Soon, however, their full size became clear to all as they rocketed towards Alice and her brutes at a fantastic speed, complete with a searing hot, white contrail of flames behind them. When the giant pieces of rocks crashed into the earth, it was like miniature nukes going off as the ground shook, trees, roots and all, were sent flying off in the distance, and large chunks of the earth were uncontrollably carried away by the sheer kinetic energy. This, as Cobalion discovered, had an unforeseen benefit as Aerodactyl and Skarmory were forced into evasive maneuvers lest they be turned into a bloody paste. This not only enabled Luka to finally climb onto Aerodactyl's back after stabbing her other claw into the apex predator's gut, but slowed them down enough that the master swordswoman was able to catch up despite their head start.

Throwing her blade in front of her which planted itself into the ground blade first, Cobalion launched herself forward, leaped off of the pommel high into the sky by using bounce, and latched onto Skarmory's foot. Cawing and wobbling at the sudden shift in weight, the metallic bird of prey proceeded to peck, hack, slash, toss, and turn in an attempt to throw the master swordswoman off, but the warrior from the Days of Old held firm. Guessing that this creature was a steel/flying type, Cobalion called upon the energy from a certain move that she was loathe to use considering it was not part of her natural repertoire nor was it a move that she could learn from a tutor, preferably from one of her kin. Still, with the way things were going, she swallowed her pride, but not without an annoyed snarl in the process.

Conjuring orbs around that soon turned into scorching balls of fire, Cobalion leaned to the side to avoid an arc of sharpened wind that would have cleaved any lesser being in two and, after launching herself up into the air, passed over a swipe at her belly by Skarmory's wings that would have sliced open the true Maris's belly like a wet paper bag had she been the one in this situation. While the metallic bird of prey was still recovering from the previous motion, the master swordswoman, clenched her teeth, causing the fiery spheres to crash into Skarmory, creating a sizable explosion which flung her back and engulfed the metallic bird of prey in flames. Screeching, the now charred Skarmory nose dived towards the ground as the master swordswoman used the discharge to launch herself at Aerodactyl and latch onto its neck.

Roaring, Aerodactyl coated its fangs in pulsating, bursting, red electricity and chomped on Cobalion's charred, still in pain arm, eliciting a howl of pain from the master swordswoman who felt the cold, sharp teeth puncture her flesh and tear away at her sinew. Seeing that this didn't dislodge at least one of the annoyances, the apex predator then coated its fangs in chilling, deathly cold ice and bit down on the same arm. Letting the tears fall down her face as blood and viscera fell onto the ground below, the master swordswoman continued to hold on as Luka, after securing herself onto the apex predator's back, grabbed onto Delia with one arm while repeatedly hacking away at Aerodactyl's tail in order to free the dragon slayer. When even this did not break Cobalion's grip, Aerodactyl seemingly channeled the heat of a blue supergiant star into its teeth and sunk its teeth into the master swordswoman's arm yet again, making Cobalion ululate, clench her teeth, and lock one pained eye on the jackal.

Seeing Luka cut away the last remaining strands of sinew on Aerodactyl's tail, eliciting a sharp cry of pain from the apex predator who wobbled in the air, the aura pokemon secured Delia against her chest, locked eyes with Cobalion, and nodded. Conjuring her blade of light, 'Maris' decapitated the beast with a strong, swift downward slash of her sword. After letting out a brief, agonizing cry, the now headless apex predator descended towards the earth, as did Luka and 'Maris,' where the former shot a multitude of aura spheres in front of her to slow her descent. The aura pokemon, however, was still forced to roll upon landing on the ground, which, due to her injuries, made her fall flat on her face with a thud, making her grunt.

The warrior from the Days of Old, however, grabbed onto Aerodactyl's body and braced as she and the headless corpse crashed to the cold, hard ground. Grimacing and howling as the impact put more dire strain on her mangled arm, Cobalion, after tightly gripping the bloodied appendage that looked like it was put through a meat grinder, pressed her forehead against the ground to prop herself up. It was bad enough when the pain from the burn wounds she sustained from the hell hound persisted for some reason, now her arm, which was hanging on by a few meaty threads, felt like it was going to be torn from her body at any moment.

"(Luka, is Delia secured!?)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice called out in between erratic stutter breathes and bouts of angry, pained weeping as she attempted to turn her head to see, but nearly fell flat on her face upon doing so. Suddenly, she felt something grab her waist, making her quickly snap her head to the side and saw Dmitri, Catherine, and her feline kin, who seemed to have evolved given her different appearance, helping her up.

"(Boy, I told you to wait-)"

"We know, but we got help," the battle ace interrupted the master swordswoman who was about to ask who exactly came to their aid only to be interrupted by a large, orange draconic being barreling into Salamence, spewing hot, whitish-orange flames at the dragon's allies all the while, and tightly wrapping his arms around his foe. The warrior from the Days of Old didn't get to look at the newcomer much long as, suddenly, the dragon like being quickly ascended into the sky with his foe squirming foe firmly in his grasp.

"(By the Titans, who…)" Cobalion started to say only to trail off as she saw a boy wearing a red cap, slightly older than Dmitri, sending some sort of yellow rodent with a lightning shaped tail, a light yellow saurian with a sharp, sickle shaped leaf and leaf buds hanging from its neck, a bluish, beetle with a horn protruding from its head, a large, blue, crocodile-esque being with rows of razor sharp teeth, and green raptor-esque being with sharpened fins on its forearms and a twig in its mouth into the fray.

"(I hope we still have some coin left over for whatever amount you paid him to get his assistance,)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice commented as the skills and prowess of this particular sellsword, at least what she thought was one, must have been in very high demand.

"What are you...you know what? Never mind, let's just get out of here," Catherine stated as she, Dmitri, and Luxio hauled ass away from the battlefield while carrying their charge as the "sellsword" sent out more and more his strange, but powerful kin. The master swordswoman wasn't complaining, however, as this newcomer was actually forcing their enemy back, enabling Luka to flee with Delia to a safe distance away from the carnage and Dragonite to safely carry Druddigon away from the madness.

Seeing this, Alice clenched her hands so tightly that her knuckles turned white and ground teeth together so hard that one might think they were going to break! This wasn't supposed to happen! She and her team were supposed to kill Catherine's accursed friends, end that pesky Lucario's life, and shepherd her sister back to the Orre region for much needed reeducation! She was so close to achieving just that, but now those plans were shot all because Ketchum and his damned companions intervened. Still, even with this unexpected wrench thrown into her plans, she still saw a way to win the day. True, there wasn't enough time to capture the legendary guardian of the sea herself, but she had something that should be sufficient enough to deal with these interlopers.

"Everyone, stop! You're no longer needed for now!" the mad heiress roared over the carnage as she grabbed a small, box like device from her pocket, pressed a button on the side of it, and watched it extend into a pylon the size of her leg. From there, she plunged it into the ground and pressed another button, causing a protective barrier to form around her along with the tool and a red light to emanate from the top of the device. Soon, everyone present was treated to what would like a laser light show as Alice's pokemon were struck by red beams coming from the pylon, dematerialized as if they were being recalled by a pokeball, and sent back to whatever storage system Alice was keeping them in. In no time at all, the mad heiress, once surrounded by a small army of her loyal pokemon, now stood alone against an innumerable amount of opponents with only her flickering crimson aura to aid her.

"Geez, Alice. I knew you always valued strength and power above all else, but this is a boneheaded move, even for you," Catherine remarked with as much venom as she could muster, causing her elder sister to snort as she took another device out her pocket that, when fully extended, was another pylon, albeit a dark, insidious shade of purple. Not waiting to see what exactly she was up to, 'Maris,' Luka, Haxorus, Dragonite, and Hydreigon discharged earth shaking salvos of chi, aura, and draconic energy at the mad heiress. The salvos of magenta, azure, and dark blue collided with the barrier in a bright, brilliant display of light, forcing everyone to shield their eyes lest they be blinded, all while struggling to maintain their balance as the kinetic energy behind the blasts kicked up a copious amount of dust and nearly plucked trees, roots and all, straight from the ground. When the dust settled and the blinding, flashing lights ebbed away, Cobalion opened her eyes and, to her shock, saw that the mad heiress was unharmed and was calmly going about placing not one, but two of the purple pylons into the ground.

"(Impossible)," the former lord of the Swords of Justice growled as she sucked in a pained breathe, secured her limp arm in her maw, and charged at the barrier...only for Dmitri to get in front of her with his arms extended.

"(What, what are you-)"

"Maris, you said you would come back with our friends and now's our chance while Alice is doing...whatever she's doing," Dmitri interrupted as she gestured with his head for Haxorus, Hydreigon, and Dragonite to go on ahead, causing the trio to give him a concerned look before reluctantly nodding, securing Delia and Druddigon, and running back to Jubilife with Dawn and Brock in tow.

"(But, but those pylons! If we don't stop her now-)"

"(I know, Sis, I know! But I'm running on empty at this point, and your arm is going to tear itself from your body if you continue to exert yourself! We need to go, now! Ash can handle this!)" Luka roared as her body shut down seemingly on cue, causing the aura pokemon to fall onto all fours and tremble violently where she vomited bile and blood onto the ground. Gasping, Catherine knelt down next to her partner, put one of the aura pokemon's arms around her neck, and helped Luka to her feet with Luxio pushing upward on the aura pokemon's foot in an attempt to help.

"(But the situation has changed! We have a chance to push back now-)"

"No, our part in this is over! We have to leave this to Ash and get out of here!" Dmitri interrupted as he grabbed Cobalion's uninjured arm and, with herculean effort, dragged the injured master swordswoman away in spite of her protests with Catherine, Luxio, and Luka right behind them.

"Ash, are you sure you'll be okay?" the battle ace yelled while pausing in his stride and looking over his shoulder at the Champion of the Orange League as the pylons produced two dark crimson masses of light who vaguely resembled Lugia and were even more gargantuan than the real deal. However, the facsimiles were flickering wildly as if they were dying stars about to exhaust their very last drop of hydrogen. This caused Alice to give both devices rough kicks in an attempt to stabilize them, but this, predictably, had no effect.

"Don't worry about me! We got this!" Ash exclaimed with Pikachu discharging electricity from his cheeks and declaring its name as his friends from Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn stood behind him. Nodding, Dmitri, after seeing 'Maris' fall onto one knee while clutching her arm, wrapped his arms around her waist and helped her walk. Suddenly, the world around the master swordswoman collapsed with a burst of blinding, purple light, causing Cobalion to fall onto one knee now that there was no one helping her walk. Sucking in a breathe, the warrior from the Days of Old forced down the pain, no small feat considering the state of her arm and the searing pain from the pitch black hellfire that had still not ebbed in the slightest, and slowly stood back up while clutching her appendage as a purple haze filled the void.

"(It's sad to see you've taken some steps back when you've been making progress. Firstly, I'm sure the noble boy did not appreciate being manhandled by you, much less you getting into his face and seething at him, even if your words rang true,)" the voice of Giratina began as the purple haze twisted and contorted with the sound of bones cracking and popping before taking shape into the Overlord of the Distortion World.

"(You would prefer I let him run towards the carnage and be torn limb from limb?)" the master swordswoman spat with venom, causing the specter of Giratina to slowly lower her head to eye level with Cobalion and look her dead in the eye.

"(Certainly not, but you could have gone about it far better. Secondly, we need to address the manner in which you dealt with our kin serving the noble girl's sister,)" the apparition of the ruler of the Reverse World calmly, but firmly stated, causing Cobalion, who was doing her best to avoid eye contact with the ghostly dragon, to huff.

"(What is there to say? They were brutes! Exact copies of their overlord save for species! They would have shown us no quarter if we had even relented in the slightest! You saw what they did to the Delia, er, the dragon slayer and her wyrms!)" the master swordswoman exclaimed as a dark, purple miasma coated her mangled arm and went about reformatting it, rather than healing it. All the same, the former lord of the Swords of Justice let out a cathartic sigh as it no longer felt like her arm was going to be torn from her body with the slightest movement.

"(You are correct, our kin serving the noble girl's sister did indeed take after their trainer in many aspects. However, did you consider that most, if not all of them, were either raised by the human trainer since birth or had spent more time in her care than they did out in the wild?)" the phantom of Giratina posited, making the master swordswoman grunt, as her reformatted arm assumed a bulkier, shadowy, dark purple, goo like appearance.

"(Even so, it does not excuse their actions,)" Cobalion retorted while uncomfortably looking over her new appendage, making the ruler of the Reverse World huff, nearly knocking over the master swordswoman, and retract her head while standing back up to her full height.

"(You are also correct, but those same kin you decry for their actions, both in the simulation and real life, had little to no choice to be otherwise. Just as our kin born and raised in either your or your cohort's domains in the Days of Old couldn't be anything other than what you asked of them, such as Keldeo the Bold and Tomoe the Betrayer,)" the specter of the overlord of the Distortion World riposted, causing Cobalion to jolt, briefly forget her fear of the ghostly dragon, and turn her head so she could glare daggers at Giratina.

"(Leave my boy out of this-)"

"(Yet it's perfectly fine to namedrop a being you and your cohorts turned into a metaphorical boogeyman? You may have been able to hide from the consequences of your actions in the material plane, but no such luxury will be afforded to you here,)" the ghostly dragon interrupted in a voice that was as cool as ice and as firm as a castle gate standing strong against a battering ram. Feeling her breathe hitch, the master swordswoman dipped her head and looked away from the ruler of the Reverse World yet again, causing the ghostly dragon to take a breathe in and let it back out.

"(Moving on, we arrive at the most egregious part of the simulation. When given the chance to fall back, you wanted to stay and fight. This, in spite of your arm tearing from the seams and the jackal being nearly dead on her feet. Need I remind you that your stated goal was a rescue mission, not a combat operation?)" the ghostly dragon snarled in a voice barely above a whisper, making the master swordswoman gnash her teeth together, but didn't dare turn her head to look the specter of Giratina in the eye.

"(That was still something I was trying to carry out-)"

"(Yet when the Chosen One and his companions took to the field, tipping the balance of power in your favor, you couldn't resist wanting to counter attack, forcing the dragon slayer's wyrms to carry out your stated purpose. Moreover, your desire, and that's all it was, to finish off the human trainer put not only yourself in danger, but the jackal, the two nobles, and our feline kin as well,)" the phantom of Giratina harshly interrupted, making the master swordswoman open her mouth to say something, but nothing came to mind.

"(...That's why I entreated them to stay behind-)"

"(Yet if they didn't get the Chosen One's help, the dragon slayer, her wyrms, and the jackal would have been slain. You would have survived, but not without injury, obviously. And that's not even getting into how you would explain to the nobles and our feline kin how you let your desire for battle supersede your need to rescue your allies,)" the overlord of the Distortion World cut off the former master of the Swords of Justice yet again, causing Cobalion to look like she wanted to say something, but merely released a breathe and clenched her paw. Seeing this, the ghostly dragon stepped back, closed her eyes, took a deep breathe in, and let it back out before looking down at the master swordswoman.

"(Let us now look at the things you did that were a step in the right direction, shall we? You could have easily just left the noble boy, but you rescued him anyway. This, in spite of suspecting that he, along with the dragon slayer, formed a group to track you down. Moreover, you acquiescing to a check-up by the identical nurses in each of the region's holds was surprising, to say the least,)" the manifestation of the overlord of the Distortion World remarked, causing the former master of the Swords of Justice to narrow her eyes and snort.

"(I just said that to appease him so I could be on my way,)" Cobalion replied while continuing to inspect her new, amorphous appendage with the corner of her lip curling in disgust when a small part of it bubbled, burst, and released an unidentifiable mist.

"(I figured as much, but something tells me you would have relented in the end,)" the master of the Reverse World commented with a wry grin briefly tugging at her lips, causing the master swordswoman to scoff.

"(I obviously couldn't walk around with my arm torn to shreds,)" Cobalion huffed, eliciting a scoff from the specter of Giratina who looked down at the master swordswoman with the same, amused sneer.

"(Of course, but even without it, you would have stuck close by to them, wouldn't you?)" the ruler of the Distortion World posited, causing the former lord of the Swords of Justice to be less than impressed with the phantom of Giratina's revelation.

"(...The humans have the heart of a kaiju; it's a shame they were born as the inferior species. Our kin serving them are also not the mindless, sycophantic thralls I assumed they would be,)" Cobalion grudgingly admitted, feeling as if she were pulling teeth the whole time, causing the manifestation of Giratina to purse her lips.

"(Your ability to compliment will improve as the lessons continue. Moving on, you accepted that the jackal, along with her compatriots, would look at you with suspicion even with your decision to aid them. There was also your decision in one of the key situations in this scenario regarding the dragon slayer's capture. You advocated for staying and fighting in order until an opportunity presented itself to grab her allies, but ultimately assisted the jackal in rescuing her,)" the titan of antimatter observed, causing the master swordswoman to grunt as she conjured a blade of light, gripped the handle with her reformatted arm, and threw out some practice swings.

"(I am not repeating what I said about the humans and the kaiju serving them-)"

"(Working with them,)" the specter of Giratina corrected, causing the master swordswoman to scoff, but otherwise say nothing, as she continued to analyze her arm and wondered how well it wound stand up to punishment.

"(Overall, you're progressing better than someone usually would with your closely held beliefs. Now then, ready for your last lesson for the time being?)" the phantom of Giratina inquired, causing the master swordswoman to perk up and look up at the ghostly dragon though she was just as quick to look away. Making an incomprehensible sound, the ghostly dragon once again vanished, leaving the master swordswoman in complete, soul crushing darkness, only for the same purple will o' the wisp to appear and seemingly light up the entire, pitch black void. When Cobalion reached out to the ball of ectoplasmic flames, the will o' the wisp seemingly retracted from her touch and sped away, leaving a thin trail of fire for the former lord of the Swords of Justice to follow that was deathly cold to the touch.

Following the path laid before her, the warrior from the Days of Old couldn't help but wonder what the embodiment of antimatter had in store for her this time. Cobalion figured this last scenario would start off from where she left off, being dragged away from the battlefield while someone else completed her fight in her stead. She acknowledged that neither she or Simulation Luka were in any condition to continue fighting, along with the fact that Simulation Alice had devices capable of creating incomplete facsimiles of some sort of fellow kaiju she had never seen before, but still, it felt...wrong to just leave her fight in someone else' hands.

"(Ah, the crux of the matter. Are you angry that you had to retreat because you were deprived of the chance to even the score for what she did to you and your allies, or because she wounded your pride and you felt entitled to be the one to claim victory over her?)" Giratina's voice inquired in the master swordswoman's head, making Cobalion jolt, as the trail she was following led to yet another maelstrom of swirling, bursting ectoplasmic energy. Steeling herself, the master swordswoman gave the overlord of the Distortion World no answer as she stepped into the crackling ball of energy, losing all sensation across her body, and blacking out once more. A short time later, Cobalion, with an incessant ringing in her ears, twitched and slowly climbed onto all fours with a low groan. Gritting her teeth and shutting her eyes, the master swordswoman shook her head to and fro in an attempt to abate the pain in her head that made her feel as if someone was prying it apart.

Opening her eyes, which made the agony inside her skull briefly flare up, the former lord of the Swords of Justice was taken aback when she saw that instead of being in the Pokemon Center like she expected to, she was situated on a grassy, windy, seemingly peaceful cliff side. Tilting her head, Cobalion shakily stood up and took in her surroundings. For one, neither Dmitri, Delia, Catherine, her feline kin, or Luka were in sight, let alone any of the wyrms the modern day dragon slayer was allied with. Two, there was no civilization in sight. True, their battle with the mad heiress did take place in a forested region, but Jubilife was but a stone's throw away. As far as the master swordswoman could tell, she was far from any sort of settlements, whether they be man made or of Pocket Monster creation.

Releasing a breathe, Cobalion activated her harsh, steely aura and decided to see if she could sense any nearby life signs. Widening her eyes when she did indeed sense life signatures, and familiar ones at that, the former master of the Swords of Justice jogged over to the edge of the cliff she was standing on, went prone onto her belly, and peered downwards. Sighing in relief, but having a nagging feeling that all was not right when she saw a zoroark and haxorus on a beach standing in front of a group of beartics, jellicents, swannas, unfezants, mandibuzzs, and braviarys, the master swordswoman considered her next act carefully. Should she go down there and see what exactly what they were doing?

They were fellow Unovans so maybe she would be able to form a rapport with them to get a sense of what was going on. Then again, from what the former lord of the Swords of Justice could see, it seemed that, most likely, said zoroark and haxorus were amassing an army of some kind. If that was indeed the case, for what purpose? Who exactly earned their ire to justify a gathering such as this? The master swordswoman supposed those were questions for later because, as it stood now, their so called army barely numbered in the hundreds, even with the recent addition of a school of basculins and alomomolas. That's not even getting into how Cobalion could not see any heavy hitters among their number save for a single hydreigon who the master swordswoman could immediately tell had only just recently evolved, what with the unfamiliarity it looked upon its body and the trembling the beast was going through.

Suddenly, however, the master swordswoman's breathe hitched when she sensed what seemed to be an apparent horde of mind boggling life signatures who either were approaching the power of lesser legendaries, near equal to them, or, scarily enough, were roughly in the realm of power of the greater legendaries. Scooting forward so she could get a better look at the beings who these life signatures belonged to, Cobalion nearly went pale when she saw that these fellow kaiju, if they could be referred to as such, had masses of elemental energy in covering their bodies, said elements jutting of their bodies themselves, or the elements forming apart of their body structure itself. With the addition of these...abominations, the army that Cobalion once scoffed at was now a forced to be reckoned with. The master swordswoman was suddenly knocked out of her stupor when her instincts screamed at her to dodge. Retracting her foot as a giant, magma coated claw nearly grasped her ankle, Cobalion kipped up to her feet with her paws raised only for an invisible force to suddenly press down on her and force her onto her belly.

"(We don't have time for this,)" a blunt, harsh voice remarked as the same large, magma encased hand grabbed Cobalion's arm and wrenched it behind her back. When the master swordswoman put up resistance, she forcibly exhaled as a great, near unbearable weight was pressed onto her spine courtesy of this unknown being sitting on her back.

"(Well, we're going to have to make time,)" a much calmer voice responded, causing Cobalion, with herculean effort, to move her head in the direction of the sound to see just who exactly was talking. Narrowing her eyes when she gazed upon some sort of pink, felid creature with a gemstone on its forehead bearing some similarities to the abominations she saw earlier, the former lord of the Swords of Justice continued to writhe around to free herself, but the being holding her had an iron grip.

"(This...this doesn't feel right! Wh-what if she let us capture her, huh!? Wh-what if they're already onto us and this is s-some sort of trap!?)" a higher pitched, panicky voice posited like a conspiracy theorist, causing the warrior from the Days of Old to look in the direction of who spoke. Cobalion proceeded to raise a brow when she gazed upon a being that looked almost exactly like the orange, fire breathing dragon with a flame on the tip of its tail save for the icicle like growths adorning its body, being much larger than the one she encountered, and having a white as snow body.

"(It isn't a trap. We all saw how confused she was when she came to and when she noticed our friends down there getting everything ready,)" the pink felid reasoned while approaching the master swordswoman, making the being restraining Cobalion huff, but otherwise say nothing, while the panicky ice dragon nervously tapped her claws together.

"(O-or she could be just that g-good of an actor!)" the panicky ice dragon exclaimed, eliciting a short, but nevertheless amused, good-natured laugh from the pink felid while the being holding Cobalion down resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"(Perhaps, but we won't know unless we get better acquainted,)" the pink felid responded, causing the panicky ice dragon to open her mouth to say something, but closed it when nothing came to mind as the salmon colored feline locked eyes with the master swordswoman. Rather than begin a series of questions to determine her character or intentions, Cobalion instead felt a presence worming and twisting its way through her head, making the warrior from the Days of Old tightly clench her teeth. Just as soon as she felt this strange, invasive presence in her skull, it just as abruptly ceased, making Cobalion quietly sigh in relief. The psychokinetic cat, however, tilted her head, causing the being holding Cobalion to do a double take and give her an expectant look, while the anxious pseudo-dragon narrowed her eyes and gnashed her teeth.

"(W-well, what did you find out!?-)"

"(Besides the obvious that our friend here is from the same region Dmitri is from and the same species as his girlfriend, there's some sort of...block preventing me from learning more. I can say that she's someone whose been around long before either of us,)" the psychokinetic cat interrupted the panicky dragon, causing said anxious ice dragon to retract her head, give the pink felid a flabbergasted look, and tightly grip her arm. Cobalion, however, widened her eyes when she heard the psychokinetic cat utter that familiar name. Should she say she knew him? After taking a moment to consider this, the master swordswoman decided against it. For all she knew, these beings had captured him and saying they were compatriots might compromise his situation further.

"(W-what do you m-mean she's been around before us? I-is s-she one of the Ancients? D-did those kaiju from the region Dmitri's from f-figure out how to revive their fossilized forms?)" the anxious ice dragon said with a small gasp as dealing with her brethren was bad enough, now they had to contend with necromancy, mad human science, or both!

"(Not that old, but-)"

"(Moving on, please tell us about this block you mentioned and then you can fill us in on whoever this old geezer is,)" the draconic, turtle like being holding down Cobalion interrupted, causing the panicky dragon to indignantly huff and briefly narrow her eyes at her ally while the master swordswoman scowled. Old geezer!? If she could just break free, then she'd show this arrogant upstart what this old geezer could do!

"(It's hard to explain, really. When I read her mind, I could clearly tell there was a lot more than I was able to suss out, but the only ones I was able to get were the ones she had leading up to just now. For all intents and purposes, it's like she was born yesterday,)" the pink felid answered, causing the panicky dragon to purse her lips and give the master swordswoman an uncertain, nervous look while the dragon turtle grunted.

"(That's impossible; you just said there's more to her than we know,)" the dragon turtle pointed out with a loud, terse huff, causing the pink felid to nod and begin fervently licking her crotch.

"(Right, usually when the subject has strong mental defenses, I'm at least able to still get sequences of events. In this case though, I wasn't even able to get bits and pieces. Not because she's of strong mind, which she is, but because there's something else at play here protecting her innermost thoughts,)" the psychokinetic cat replied while licking her paw, rubbing it across her head, and then proceeding to fervently gnaw on her foot. Growling at her ally's rather nonchalant attitude toward this potentially dangerous unknown, the dragon turtle locked eyes with the pink felid who calmly looked back at her while licking her eyelids.

"(So what? Some sort of...spell or witchcraft is responsible for this? We don't have time to break through it-)"

"(Indeed, so I'll ask our friend here one question,)" the psychokinetic cat coolly cut off the dragon turtle before sauntering over to where the pinned down Cobalion was and, with her prehensile paw, grasped the entirety of master swordwoman's head. Upon doing so, however, the pink felid felt an all too familiar energy coursing and running over her prehensile paw like a stream of cool water. Tilting her head, the psychokinetic cat, to the great confusion of her allies, leaned her face close to Cobalion's took a good, long sniff of her face, and ran her tongue over the master swordswoman's gooey, reformatted arm as if it were ice cream. Closing her eyes and nodding as if she found the solution to a hair-pulling, blood boiling puzzle, the pink felid removed her paw from the warrior from the Days of Old's head and stepped back.

"(Ah, I see now. It's alright, you can let her go,)" the pink felid declared, causing the anxious ice dragon's jaw to drop in shock while the dragon turtle recoiled, gave her ally the stink eye, and grit her teeth.

"(Sniffing her face and licking her arm is enough to gain your trust?)" the dragon turtle incredulously seethed, causing the psychokinetic cat to nod. Letting out a low, almost bloodthirsty snarl, the dragon turtle looked down at Cobalion, glared daggers at her for what seemed like an eternity, before releasing her arm and getting off of her. Sighing in relief now that she felt her spine wasn't being pressed down upon by a mountain, the warrior from the Days of Old slowly got back to her feet while rubbing her arm. Meanwhile, the dragon turtle stood close by behind her with her hands at her side just in case she tried anything with the panicky dragon following suit, albeit with her teeth chattering the whole time, as the psychokinetic cat sized up this unknown being.

"(See, no one's hurting each other. Come on, we gotta get down there and introduce ourselves so I hope you can walk and talk at the same time,)" the pink felid remarked while gesturing for the lesser legendary to follow, causing the dragon turtle to saunter past Cobalion and briefly glower at her while the panicky dragon hung back and tapped her foot. Weighing her options, the warrior from the Days of Old grumbled, but nonetheless pursued the pink felid and the dragon turtle, causing the anxious ice dragon to finally move from her spot.

"(I am lost in regards to what you and your comrades intend to do-)"

"(What we intend to do; see, the kaiju down there are gearing up for a mass assault on the nearby cities and, most likely, the entire Johto region, and its neighbor, Kanto. All so they can capture their target and bring him back home with them,)" the pink felid informed the master swordswoman, causing Cobalion to jolt and feel a slight, icy cold chill go down her spine.

"(...And whom would that be?)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice hesitantly asked, causing the psychokinetic cat to snort, and, without stopping her in her tracks or breaking her stride, looked back at her with a calm, wooden gaze.

"(I think you know the answer to that,)" the pink felid replied before facing forward, making Cobalion recoil before gritting her teeth, balling her paws into fists, and glowering darkly at the back of the feline's head. She would like nothing more than to just rush forward, hoist the psychokinetic cat up by her neck, and demand answers to the questions that were burning in her mind, but just barely managed to restrain herself. Good thing too, as the dragon turtle, already suspicious of this newcomer, had encased her fists in searing hot magma at a moment's notice. The panicky dragon, meanwhile, forgot her earlier fear when she saw her friend might be in danger and coated her claws with the same icy, mucus like substance she used in her match against Tomoe. When they saw Cobalion back down, albeit still on edge, they powered down as well, but both kept a closer eye on her from then on.

"(A mass assault on this region and the next all just to capture Dmitri? What has he done to get such a lucrative target on his back?)" the warrior from the Days of Old couldn't help but wonder as surely, not much could have changed since the last scenario, could it? I mean, sure, Alice was dangerous, there was no mistake of that, but the danger she posed came from her ruthless, unpredictable nature and the countless indoctrinated, fanatical (in most cases) kaiju she could field in a moment's notice. Not to mention those pylons she had in her possession that could create incomplete copies of that unfamiliar kaiju she had seen in the last simulation. Such mentality and methods did not lend well to forming alliances, at least equal ones. Still, maybe something had changed since the last scenario.

"(Is there a human named Alice backing them?)" the master swordswoman inquired and it was if the whole world grinded to a halt as the dragon turtle widened her eyes upon hearing the utterance of her trainer's name. Staring at 'Maris' with a fiery, murderous gaze that made it clear she wanted to tie Cobalion down and do some 'enhanced interrogation' to learn all her secrets, the dragon turtle proceeded to turn up the heat on her palms until they were glowing a bright orange. The panicky dragon, meanwhile, merely narrowed her eyes at Cobalion, but proceeded to place herself in such a way that would make escaping all the more difficult for the former lord of the Swords of Justice.

In response, the master swordswoman immediately shifted her position so she was facing all three of them and not leaving her back exposed. Before things could get out of hand, however, the psychokinetic cat whistled and clicked her tongue, gathering the attention of all three of them, where the pink felid gestured at the path they were walking with her head. Scoffing, the dragon turtle cooled her hands and forged on ahead while the anxious ice dragon, despite her underlying fear, kept her composure and was about to motion for Cobalion to get moving only for the warrior from the Days of Old to leave her in the dust. Letting out a quiet, indignant huff, the anxious ice dragon shook her head, shrugged it off, and jogged to catch up as the psychokinetic cat, after noting how beautiful of a day it was, glanced over her shoulder at the master swordswoman.

"(To answer your question, no, this is an entirely kaiju endeavor. Though, from what my friends and I learned, I wouldn't put it past them to start allying with humans down the line, albeit in a master/favored agent, capacity,)" the pink feline answered, causing the former master of the Swords of Justice to slowly nod with a paw on her chin.

"(These three must be servants of Alice, so why the subterfuge? Obviously they're attempting to learn more of our kin's plans to twist it to their master's cruel ends, but why spare an unknown like me, let alone let me assist them?)" the former master of the Swords of Justice mused as she just hoped that wherever Dmitri was, he was at least safely hidden away from the carnage that would inevitably ensue. She supposed she would have to hope that was the case, as, in seemingly no time at all, they arrived at their destination and, rather than seeing a highly disciplined mass of militaristic kaiju, they instead saw a large, rowdy rabble of pocket monsters loudly conversing and laughing among themselves. What's more, rather than seeing the axe jaw dragon and the crimson maned fox looking proudly at their gathered allies, they instead mainly looked to each other with a sense of dread while constantly looking out towards the sea as if they were expecting someone.

"(They were expecting more reinforcements,)" Cobalion observed, making the pink feline gaze at the agents, and, after taking a good look at them, to nod in agreement and begin rolling around in the sand and stretching her body. The dragon turtle, meanwhile raised a brow while calmly, but firmly clasping the panicky dragon's shoulder when she noticed just how many of their people she recognized among the gathering army.

"(How can you tell?)" the dragon turtle ventured as she reluctantly cast a nod of acknowledgment, a stilted wave, and a forced, awkward grin towards some of her sparring partners when they made eye contact with one another.

"(Look at their faces; those aren't the expressions of commanders ready and waiting to execute their strategy, those are the expressions of commanders desperately fumbling over themselves trying to formulate a way to still make their strategy work with the limited numbers they have,)" the master swordswoman answered, causing the dragon turtle to slowly nod, as she noticed the crimson maned fox began anxiously pacing around the beach before being stopped by the axe jaw dragon.

"(Speaking from experience?)" the psychokinetic cat remarked as she dug a hole in the sand, shot a blast of water into it to cool it down, and laid down in it with a content smile on her face as Cobalion shot a brief, but intense glare in her direction.

"(Mind your tongue,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice huffed, but all this did was make the pink feline, with the same shit eating grin on her face, to shrug as it seemed like she was about to take a nap right then and there.

"(Moving on, where do we go from here?)" the dragon turtle inquired as she grasped the scruff of the pink feline's neck, kicked sand over the hole until it was sealed, and unceremoniously dropped the psychokinetic cat onto her ass.

"(Nothing's changed, the plan was gathering intel and that's exactly what we're going to do. Wynter, you and I will go mingle with the peeps over there. Blastoise, you and our friend-)"

"(Ally, and only until this matter is dealt with,)" Cobalion corrected with a razor sharp edge to her voice, something that brought no end of amusement to the pink feline, while Blastoise had to resist the great, overwhelming urge to roar at both of them to take the situation more seriously.

"(Of course; Blastoise, you and our ally ingratiate yourselves with the crowd over there. And remember, stay in each other's line of sight,)" the pink feline finished in a sickeningly-sweet tone of voice while looking at the master swordswoman the whole time, causing the dragon turtle to scoff, but nod nonetheless. Thumping Cobalion's shoulder, the dragon turtle gestured for the former master of the Swords of Justice to follow her, making the master swordswoman instead walk in another direction entirely. Putting a claw to her face, Blastoise spared a glance at Espeon who, smiled, shrugged, and gestured at the master swordswoman with her head. Pinching the bridge of her nose, the dragon turtle released a breathe before turning around and jogging to catch up to the warrior from the Days of Old who was walking up to the agents.

"(Espeon said-)"

"(I know, but I need to confirm something,)" the former lord of the Swords of Justice interrupted, making Blastoise want to grab her tentative ally's arm and drag her toward where Espeon wanted them to go, but knew that would attract more unneeded attention.

"(Fine, but whatever you're doing better pay off,)" the dragon turtle warned in a low, husky voice while narrowing her eyes at Cobalion, causing the master swordswoman to nod while inwardly relieved that they didn't come to blows. Joining the group of beartics since they were the closest to the leaders of this rabble, the duo politely introduced themselves and listened in on the agent's conversation while the ursines did their best to calm the nerves of the newly evolved Hydreigon.

"(This...this can't be everyone. S-surely, they're more coming. T-they're just has to be!)" the duo heard the red maned fox exclaim like he was about to undergo a mental breakdown, but managed to compose himself before he could garner the attention of the whole group. Cobalion, after hearing this, subtly looked at the dragon turtle with an expression that said "You see?", to which Blastoise grudgingly conceded the point.

"(We've waited for days, Zoroark. We both knew that most, if not all of our reinforcements, would be the types able to make such a long journey,)" the axe jaw dragon wearily replied in a tone that made it clear that she just wanted to fall back, plop down on the softest pile of sand she could find, close her eyes, and get some much needed rest. Again, the warrior from the Days of Old cast a glance at Blastoise and gave her a look that said "You see?", making the dragon turtle huff, but begrudgingly nod.

"(Two more days. After that, we can initiate-)"

"(We can't wait any longer, Zoroark. The Legend Killer's spawn already has Tomoe aiding him. What if he finds the village and befriends some of the locals? That would spell doom for us all!)" the axe jaw dragon snapped before catching herself, shutting her eyes, taking a deep breathe in, and letting it back out. Cobalion, meanwhile, widened her eyes upon hearing the utterance of the boogyman's name, something that did not go unnoticed by Blastoise, but was able to calm herself. Tomoe, the being whose name she and her allies used as a cautionary tale to the hatchlings. Tomoe, the being she and her allies had stricken from the records, along with all those who aided her, was here? Before she could ruminate on this further, she heard the two agents resume their conversation that nearly devolved into a shouting match, causing her to put whatever thoughts on the betrayer's sudden appearance aside.

"(We don't know if he has-)"

"(Exactly, we don't know. By the Titans, he may of already have which means-)"

"(Anyone of these recruits could be a potential spy,)" the illusionary fox breathed out in a voice barely above a whisper and a wide, vacant stare on his face. The axe jaw dragon, after some hesitation on her part, put a claw on her ally's shoulder to try and at lease ease of the burden on his shoulders.

"(It's an unfortunate prospect, but yes. We'll have to choose our words carefully when addressing the troops,)" the axe jaw dragon stated, something that made the red maned fox sigh heavily as the master swordswoman put a paw on her chin. So they were targeting Dmitri because of what his accursed progenitor did to her and her allies? That would make these agents...and that would make their superiors… Huffing, Cobalion locked eyes with Blastoise and gestured for the dragon turtle to follow her, causing her tentative ally to tilt her head only to then widen her eyes when she saw the master swordswoman sauntering towards the agents. Wanting to shout something, anything, but finding no words could come out of her mouth, the dragon turtle could only stare at Cobalion with her jaw agape before growling under her breathe, gnashing her teeth, and rushing to catch up to the master swordswoman before she could blow their cover. Seeing Cobalion and Blastoise approaching them, Zoroark held up a paw and gave Haxorus a look that caused the axe jaw dragon to nod as the former lord of the Swords of Justice stopped in front of them and politely dipped her head.

"(I bid you greetings, Fellow Aspects of Arceus. I assume it to be correct that it was you two that called for this gathering?)" Cobalion posited, causing the red maned fox to slowly nod while unconsciously staring at the master swordswoman's reformatted arm, causing the axe jaw dragon to nudge him in the side.

"(Indeed, Fellow Aspect. It's nice to meet someone who still speaks according to our traditional ways. Tell us, how is it that you managed the long journey from our homeland?)" Zoroark inquired while folding his arms and giving the warrior from the Days of Old an expectant look. Having a lie already in mind thanks to years of practice politicking with members of her, Virizion's, and Terrakion's court, Cobalion, while maintaining eye contact so as to not arouse suspicion, began to speak.

"(Same as other kaiju from our homeland, I suppose. I was born, I grew up learning our ways, I was captured by a slave driver, and unwillingly taken away from my family. From there, I was forced to do battle until my wounds grew so severe that my slave driver traded me away to one of the human criminal organizations native to this region. I managed to escape, but not without injury,)" Cobalion stated while gesturing at the myriad of battle scars marring her body and holding up her gooey, reformatted arm as well.

"(It must be Team Rocket of whom you speak. While they are prevalent to Kanto and Johto, it is not unheard of finding separate cells operating in other regions as well. Do you remember when exactly you were kidnapped?)" Haxorus asked while putting a claw on her hip, making the master swordswoman internally snort. Cobalion knew what this was; the answers weren't what mattered, though it certainly helped. It was her reactions to said questions that they were looking for and thus, the former lord of the Swords of Justice kept her outward expression as wooden as possible.

"(My apologies, I do not recall the exact date and time in which I was captured. If this is of some aid, I remember being around when Escavalier held sway in Lord Cobalion's court,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice answered as she vaguely recalled that he was one of the more loyal members of her court, and one whom she thought would assume leadership in her absence. Seeing the agents jolt, do a double take to make sure they heard right, and look at one another, however, made the knight errant cross her arms and raise a brow.

"(Is there a problem?)" Cobalion inquired as thus far, she surmised that she was doing a good job keeping things under wraps and didn't want to potentially compromise it with a poor choice of words.

"(I…well, you see, Escavalier rejoined Arceus' life force for some time now,)" the axe jaw dragon informed the master swordswoman, which finally broke through Cobalion's facade as the master swordswoman jolted, but quickly regained her composure.

"(...Is that so? If he did not assume the mantle of leadership, then who did?)" the master swordswoman asked and could clearly see that the agents were quietly debating among themselves on whether to answer her or not. After what seemed like an eternity, Haxorus locked eyes with Zoroark and nodded, causing the red maned fox to sigh softly before turning his attention back to the master swordswoman.

"(Sir Bisharp did, Fellow Aspect. His service during the Great Rebellion made him quite popular among our people and afforded him viewpoints our younger kin do not possess,)" Zoroark responded to which Cobalion slowly nodded as Blastoise, standing off to the side with her arms crossed, tried to make sense of what they were saying.

"(I see; there's much I missed in my absence and I look forward to catching up when we return to our homeland once our objective here is completed. What exactly are we hoping to accomplish here, besides initiating another Great Rebellion in these joined regions?)" the warrior from the Days of Old inquired though she already knew thanks to Espeon filling her in and simply wanted to gauge the agent's reactions.

"(My apologies, Fellow Aspect, but that is on a need to know basis. Rest assured, we intend to win the day and bring as many of our kin here back home,)" Haxorus answered to which the former lord of the Swords of Justice nodded and though she wished to pry for more information, she grudgingly contented herself with the knowledge she had been given.

"(I understand; one cannot be too careful in these trying times. I will wait until such a time when we are ready to mobilize,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice cordially replied as while she desperately wanted to pull rank, and was very much tempted to do so when the matter came of Escavalier's rejoining to Arceus' life force, doing so in her current form would be less than wise.

"(You have our thanks for your understanding, Fellow Aspect. I wish our reunion could have taken place under better circumstances, but duty has a tendency to supersede all else,)" the illusionary fox said while looking down at the ground with a low, heavy voice, making the knight errant nod before walking away with Blastoise in tow.

"(You think she's one of Escavalier's loyalists?)" Zoroark murmured to his ally who could only shrug in response as they watched Cobalion and Blastoise turn the corner before disappearing behind a mass of their fellow, gathered brethren.

"(I don't think so, but given the way she spoke of him, she may very well oppose us when our plan is set into motion,)" Haxorus surmised to which her cohort grunted, but nodded nonetheless as he put a claw on his chin and set his gaze on the psychokinetic cat and the panicky dragon. The former had easily ingratiated herself with the group of cloned kaiju they grouped up with and was the life of the party while the latter was nervously grinning and rubbing the back of her head at whatever the pink cat said.

"(I hope our judgment of her proves wrong, but it would serve to keep watch over her as a precaution. Onto other matters, I noticed that besides her friend, she came with those two as well. What do you make of them?)" the illusionary fox questioned as while the companion's of the legendary in mortal form seemed on the up and up, Zoroark couldn't quite shake his apprehension towards the dragon turtle.

"(Our relationships we formed with our brethren here are shallow, but, for the most part, I sense nothing amiss with our Fellow Aspect's compatriots,)" the axe jaw dragon replied as though she noticed the dragon turtle's blatant befuddlement throughout their entire conversation, that was to be expected given only a select few were privy to their actual plans.

"(Let us hope that statement remains true,)" Zoroark said, to which his ally just grunted, as Cobalion began to contemplate this new information she was now armed with, not noticing Blastoise following her with her teeth clenched her and her hands balled into fists. The dragon turtle, however, was unable to ask any questions as the axe jaw dragon hollered for everyone's attention and ordered them to assemble. Casting a quick glare at the master swordswoman who did notice this time, making her narrow her eyes in response, the duo, while making sure to be next to each other, stood at attention with their brethren. Shifting her gaze to the side, the knight errant saw Wynter and Espeon maneuvering their way through the crowd with the former sheepishly apologizing to anyone she bumped into, and proceeded to stand next to them.

"(Brothers, Sisters, thank you all for coming. As you know, we have summoned you all here for the stated purpose of giving you all the groundwork to fight back against the yoke of humanity's oppression. While we have learned that your regions had similar events to our Great Rebellion, they were not the same in length or scale. The training we will give you will hopefully change that,)" the illusionary fox explained, causing some murmurs among the rabble to erupt with a single, mutated Charmeleon stepping forward.

"(What question do you desire answered, Little One?)" Haxorus genially asked while stepping forward, kneeling down so she was eye level with the youth, and gently putting a claw on his shoulder, causing the youth to bashfully tap his claws together.

"(I mean...the ranger and her pack are always nice and helpful towards us. Doesn't that mean humanity isn't that bad?)" the young inquired, causing more whispers to break out among the gathered kaiju and several others to exchange glances with one another. The axe jaw dragon, however, was unflappable as she looked down at the ground, sucked in a breathe, and let it back out before looking into the Charmeleon's eyes once again.

"(Tell me something, Little One. Would you say your safe in your home? That you need not worry about being assailed or captured?)" Haxorus posited, making the mutated clone purse his lips, put a claw on the back of his neck, and look off to the side while pondering over this question before slowly nodding.

"(Y-yeah, I-I guess so,)" the youth replied, causing the agent to nod, as Cobalion grit her teeth when she realized that the axe jaw dragon was using similar, if not the very same rhetoric to talk to the youth like she talked to Keldeo when he began questioning their purpose.

"(And that, Little One, is such a stroke of good fortune many wish they had. However, haven't you wondered what's beyond the confines of your home? Hasn't the urge of...wanderlust come onto you from time to time,)" Haxorus questioned, causing the youth to rub his shoulder and nod, to which the master swordswoman was torn between wanting to admire the agent's silver tongue and wanting to cleave her head from her shoulders.

"(Y-yeah, i-it has, but the elders say no one's allowed to leave. They say it's for our safety,)" Charmeleon responded, with several more youths among the would be guerrilla fighters verifying this rule, to which the axe jaw dragon tutted and shook her head.

"(Do you know why such a rule exists in the first place?)" the agent inquired to which the youth could only shake his head, causing Espeon to mentally say to her allies 'Oh, she's good.', eliciting a gruff snort from Cobalion.

"(It's because of humans, Little One. Specifically, the beings called trainers who would capture you in their spherical prisons and whisk you away to some unknown land where you will never see your family and friends again. They do this all without caring about how it affects you or your loved ones; all they care about is satiating their battle lust,)" the axe jaw dragon answered, causing the youth, and several of his friends, to feel a chill go down their spine upon hearing this, while Espeon, lackadaisical as ever, set her gaze on a firefly that passed by her face.

"(Let's say you get captured and your trainer is 'one of the good ones.' They treat you well, you bond with them and any of the captured kin they have in their possession, and you begin to see them as family. However, don't forget that they went through the trouble of catching you all so they could partake in their league of blood sport for elaborate trinkets and trophies. So even if they are genuinely benign towards you, the fact remains that they're using living, thinking, and breathing beings as tools for battle to gain glory, respect, or coin,)" the axe jaw dragon continued, making the youth purse his lips, look off to the side, and rub the back of his head, causing Wynter to hope that this seed of doubt wouldn't overwhelm him or anyone else in the crowd anymore that it did.

"(Now let's say you manage to evade the trainers and make your way outside the confines of your home. You take in the wonder of this new world around you and then suddenly, you have new foes you have to deal with. Take a look at your brethren from the village you hail from and your neighbors. Haven't you wondered why you look so different from them, even with you being the same species as some of them?)" the axe jaw dragon inquired as Charmeleon shifted his gaze from the left and to the right, taking in every facet of his neighbors and fellow villagers.

"(Y-yeah, I have, b-but that's okay. We're still kin even if we look different,)" the youth said, causing several members of the crowd to loudly and vocally agree with this sentiment, which didn't deter the agent in the slightest.

"(And I'm glad that you and your neighbors share such a bond. However, and I think you know the answer to this, but humans are responsible for you and your fellow villager's visage. Specifically, criminal organizations. Sure, trainers are morally bankrupt, but some still have a code of ethics they adhere to, however twisted it might be. These human criminals, however, are an entirely different breed of monster,)" the axe jaw dragon warned in a low, heavy tone and holding up her index claw, causing the youth to curl up slightly while Wynter rather uncomfortably chewed her cheek.

"(Their aim isn't glory in battle, esteem in contests of beauty, or victory in competitions of sport. Rather, they seek to govern over their fellow humans by exploiting us in any way, shape, or form they can conceive. Maybe they'll convert you into some sort of mish-mash between kaiju and machine or maybe they'll force you to participate in a breeding program so you can produce foot soldiers for as long as your life span allows. Or, as was the case for your elders, you'll be the first batch of failed clones meant to be terminated once your flaws are disseminated to produce the next, more successful batch,)" Haxorus stated, making some of the elders among the crowd shudder upon recalling their treatment at Team Rocket's hands while Espeon stopped what she was doing, looked down at her paws, and released a low, soft breathe when she thought of the robot arms that cared for her. Maybe once this was all over, she could go back and pay her respects, they deserved that much.

"(Alright, I guess I can see why the elders don't want us to leave, but that still doesn't disprove what I said about Ranger Kelly and her pack,)" the youth pointed out, something several members of the crowd agreed with, to which the axe jaw dragon tutted, shook her head, and put a gentle, yet firm claw on Charmeleon's shoulder.

"(So you say, Little One, but can I ask a question of you? You say that humanity is not wholly evil because of the deeds of this ranger and her allies, correct?)" the agent inquired, to which the younger pocket monster nodded, as the dragon turtle and the panicky dragon were confused as to what the axe jaw dragon was getting at, while Cobalion uncomfortably shifted her feet.

"(Y-Yes, b-but what does that-)"

"(Everything, Little One. You see, they are not the paragons of virtue for the human race you're making them out to be. You want to know why? It's because that while they have done nothing but benefit you, all their deeds ultimately boil down to damage control than true, selfless, altruism,)" the axe jaw dragon gently interrupted, causing Wynter to jolt and hitch her breathe, Blastoise to grit her teeth, fold her arms, and raise a brow, and Espeon to roll her eyes.

"(What do you mean?)" the youth hesitantly ventured with Cobalion seeing Charmeleon as Keldeo for an ever so slight moment, making her breathing speed up for a moment, before she managed to compose herself. This did not go unnoticed by her tenuous allies, with Blastoise and Wynter wanting to interrogate her at a better time, but Espeon was more or less content to let it slide.

"(Think about it, Brother. Yes, they've saved your kin from natural disasters and aided you in the aftermath, aided you during droughts and food shortages, provided medical services when your own methods were not sufficient, and played peacekeeper with your neighbors when needed, but it is as I said, but these actions are not as noble as one would make them out to be. Think about it. Would natural disasters like rock slides, flash floods, avalanches, sink holes, or wildfires happen if they didn't need to pave their roads, mine in their ore, build their factories, or construct their networks of faulty gas lines?)" the axe jaw dragon posited, causing some members of the crowd to get into an uproar about the 'damn humans' or shout 'Yeah, she's right!'

"(I-)"

"(Would you need the ranger's food and water if the humans knew how to keep their numbers in check and didn't consume more than what they need to subsist? Would the ranger need to act as a mediator between you and your neighbors over territory when they keep building and building their structures without any regard as to how it would affect our kin? Would you need the ranger's medical services if her kind weren't so keen on capturing us for gladiatorial combat, unethical experiments, contests of beauty, and tournaments of sport?)" Haxorus interrupted in a calm, icy tone all without skipping a beat, causing more and more of the gathered kaiju to cheer in agreement with the agent. Wynter and Blastoise, however, were relieved that in spite of this rhetoric, they were still some that remained skeptical of the axe jaw dragon's words.

"(N-no, I-I guess not-)"

"(Most importantly, would you even need their help at all if her kind learned how to keep their worst traits in check?)" the agent inquired, causing Charmeleon, after a moment of doubt, to shake his head, making Cobalion's heart sink though she hid it behind a wooden gaze.

"(No, definitely not!)" the youth exclaimed with fire in his eyes, something that made the warrior from the Days of Old want to scowl, but knowing drawing attention would be unwise, contented herself by frowning and clenching her teeth.

"(Exactly, Brother. I'm glad you finally understand. To those of you who may still have doubts, I will leave you with these words. The actions of some good-hearted, well-meaning individuals in an overwhelmingly malevolent group still makes said group malevolent, and the exceptions shouldn't be used to judge them as a whole,)" the axe jaw dragon finished, causing some of the doubters, who were on the fence throughout the agent's whole speech, to come around to her way of thinking and join their more zealous kin in their energetic chanting.

"(Almost verbatim what I used to tell Keldeo,)" the knight errant said in a voice barely above a whisper while looking out towards the water, wondering how exactly her child was doing, until she was knocked out her stupor by Wynter subtly thumping her arm with her tail.

"(Who's Keldeo?)" the panicky dragon quietly pressed with her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a frown, making Cobalion freeze up for the first time since these trials began.

"(I...he is-)"

"(Wynter, now is not the time or place for an interrogation,)" the psychokinetic cat calmly, but firmly reminded the anxious ice dragon. Huffing, the anxious ice dragon backed down, but not before giving the knight errant the stink eye. Cobalion, meanwhile, raised a brow upon hearing the nickname. Wynter? Since when did the mad heiress take to giving her kaiju such epitaphs?

"(Thank you, Haxorus. I hope she's answered any lingering questions or resolved any doubts any of you who have joined us here today might have. Now, we will begin to explain the stages of our plan to you all so for those who do not wish to partake in hostilities, now is the time to depart,)" Zoroark informed the crowd, but no one moved a muscle, as if they were entranced by the agent's words and just had to hear more.

"(Alrighty, I've relayed what we've learned to Poliwrath so if you any of you wants to skedaddle, now's the time-)"

"(No, we need to end this, before hostilities break out,)" the master swordswoman interrupted Espeon, acknowledging the great irony that rather than initiating a Great Rebellion, she would be defusing it instead.

"(And how do you propose on doing that?-)"

"(...I am intimately familiar with the talking points the agents are using. Therefore, I know how to use their own logic against them,)" 'Maris' cut off the dragon turtle who gave her an accusatory glare, but the psychokinetic cat, after fiddling with a blade of grass with her two-pronged tail, gave Cobalion a look that all but said 'By all means.' Saying nothing, the knight errant, after sucking in a breathe and letting it back out, stepped forward and locked eyes with both Zoroark and Haxorus while they were in the middle of discussing the first stages of their plan.

"(Fellow Aspects, while I had the benefit of already being in this region when this summoning was called, I nevertheless traveled quite a distance to get here. With that in mind, I ask a simple question. Is this an open forum, where we can freely express our thoughts, or is this a summons in which you two give the orders and expect us to follow them down to the last detail without question?)" 'Maris queried, already knowing the answer given the scowls that could kill many times over the agents were sending her way.

"(If we stood here and debated over every last little thing, nothing would be accomplished. You of all kaiju should know this, especially since you hail from our realms,)" the illusionary fox responded with a slight edge to his tone, making the knight errant smirk ever so slightly before going to a wooden gaze, as she turned to face the crowd.

"(That is true, but my experiences have colored my perceptions. You speak against an open forum because you feel it's less effective than a summons, yes? Do I take it to mean that you two do not value the thoughts of your followers? That their only usefulness lies in their ability to keep quiet, be obedient, and carry out your will?)" the knight errant inquired, causing the axe jaw dragon to give her the stink eye while the red maned fox looked like he wanted to slice her head off of her shoulders, but contented himself with a brief, yet fierce glower.

"(We value our follower's input when it is asked for, as it gives us a sense of where they stand on certain matters, but other than that, we expect them to respect and trust the chain of command,)" Haxorus answered, causing some murmurs of discontent to arise among the crowd, especially among those who were on board with what Zoroark and Haxorus were saying, bringing no end of relief to Blastoise and Wynter.

"(Ah, so that's how it is. Rather than trusting them to lead themselves, you two take it upon yourselves to bear that burden as you feel as if they are not smart enough, yes?)" the warrior from the Days of Old posited while crossing her arms, causing the axe jaw dragon to snort while the red maned fox walked towards Cobalion before he was standing mere inches from her.

"(We are wasting time; please step back into formation so we can finish discussing-)"

"(N-now wait just a minute! I-I want to hear what she has to say!)" a voice suddenly interjected, causing the red maned fox and the master swordswoman to turn their heads and saw that it belonged to an equine creature with a mane of pure, red hot flames running down the base of their spine, with many echoing their sentiment. Growling under his breathe, the illusionary fox begrudgingly backed down, but not before giving the master swordswoman a look that said 'You will pay for this.' Grunting, but otherwise paying no mind to the illusionary fox, 'Maris' cleared her throat, clasped her paws behind her back, and began to speak.

"(Before we get started, let me just say I share my colleague's views that humanity as a whole is inherently malevolent, and the deeds of those who are not should be regarded solely on an individual basis, and not used to judge humanity in their entirety,)" Cobalion declared, eliciting a double take from Haxorus and Zoroark who glanced at one another, folded their arms, and raised their brows. That...certainly wasn't what they expected her to say. Blastoise, meanwhile, pursed her lips, put her claws on her hips, and tilted her head while narrowing her eyes at 'Maris' while Wynter looked like she wanted to tear her hair out if she had any.

"(Espeon, w-we can't let her talk! S-she's just going to parrot what they just said!)" Wynter shrieked inside her head, with Blastoise subtly nodding in agreement, but the psychokinetic cat merely shrugged her shoulders while gently gnawing on her tail.

"(Maybe, but she wouldn't be going up there to speak her mind if that was the case,)" Espeon mentioned, making the anxious ice dragon huff, while the dragon turtle scoffed and inclined her head to her leader.

"(Still, you really want someone like her to try and tell these guys not to go to war?)" Blastoise queried, making the pink feline shrug her shoulders yet again, eliciting a low, heavy sigh from the dragon turtle.

"(Well, she did just say she knows how to use their own words against them so for good or ill, I say we let this play out,)" Espeon answered, making Blastoise huff, furrow her brow, and aggressively release a puff of pitch black smoke from her nostrils before turning her attention back to the master swordswoman.

"(...However, I have come to realize that maybe...our kind is little better,)" the knight errant declared, though admitting it felt like she was pulling every tooth from her gums, causing the agent's jaws to drop while the crowd was stunned into silence.

"(H-How can you say that? Most of the problems both our species face in this era can be attributed to humanity's inability to control themselves!)" Zoroark, after regaining his composure, exclaimed, making the master swordswoman incline her head towards the illusionary fox and, with narrowed eyes, nodded in agreement.

"(Of course, but-)"

"(But nothing; if you're trying to convey that we're no better than the humans, you should save what precious little oxygen is being filtered to your brain,)" Haxorus coolly cut in with a razor sharp edge to her voice, eliciting a snort from 'Maris' who straightened her back, clasped her paws behind her back, and, after locking eyes with the axe jaw dragon, merely raised a brow.

"(I hope you brought more than inane put downs to this debate, Fellow Aspect. As Zoroark mentioned, I'm sure you're all familiar with the human's unceasing domicile construction projects, yes? And how they've forced some, most, or all of you out of your original habitats and into unfamiliar territory?)" the master swordswoman queried, making nearly everyone glance at one another while murmuring about their experiences of having to pack up and start a new life far from their birthplace.

"(Those in charge of these projects harm their own kind as well; sometimes the domiciles will be of poor or mediocre construction, but for some humans, it will be the only kind of home they can afford. Other times some of the abodes will always get priority in repairs and renovations while others will be left destitute for years to come,)" 'Maris' explained, internally priding herself of learning such knowledge about the human's economy, though Zoroark and Haxorus were less than impressed with her words.

"(Is there a point to this tangent? You've just confirmed our argument,)" Zoroark pointed out as Wynter, while rubbing the back of her neck, and Blastoise while clenching her teeth, glanced at Espeon who slowly shook her head.

"(Indeed; to my kin who came here merely seeking answers, let me ask you this? Did these two, after gaining sufficient manpower, force you out of your homes to make room for their supporters? Did they do so under the justification that it was for a noble cause or for the greater good?)" the master swordswoman asked the crowd, with many of the un-cloned pocket monsters present affirming her words with loud shouts and roars.

"(Yeah, they did!)" a none too happy beedrill shouted with those of his kind nodding in agreement and shooting death glares at the agents.

"(They practically shoved us out of our den and made us walk all the way to the other side of this place!)" a fatigued nidorina carrying her baby on her back snarled, with her mate, who was carrying the egg they bore in an improvised satchel made of leaves, sharing the sentiment and baring his fangs at the Unovan pocket monsters.

"(You think that's bad? They woke my family and I up in the middle of the night and turned it into a den for their guys!)" a persian that had definitely seen better days remarked while keeping a close eye on their litter of kittens, no easy feat considering they looked like they were about to face plant and fall into a deep sleep that they were never going to wake up from. Wryly smirking at the agents who cursed under their breathes and looked to and fro at the crowd members, Cobalion gestured with her arms for them to settle down before resuming her line of speech.

"(For those that were forced out, I take it some of the dens and abodes you settled in were less than adequate? That the ones who let you dwell in such homes knew of their poor state beforehand and offered them anyway in order to prioritize those that were already present?)" the knight errant posited, with more yells, exclamations, and shouts of agreement coming from the crowd, something that made the agents balk.

"(Yeah, we had to make a nest out of some burnt twigs and scrap metal!)" a voice, belonging to a pidgeotto, exclaimed while glancing at his mate and chicks who had various scratches and cuts from the less than stellar objects their nest was made of.

"(Well, my family and I live in a hole that's barely big enough to fit all of us, and we've got another batch of hatchlings on the way!)" another voice declared, this one belonging to an exhausted raticate, accompanied by his equally exasperated mate who was carrying some of their babies on her back.

"(They stuck us in a den that's a constant flooding and rock slide hazard! You know how terrifying it is to go to sleep at night and wondering if you're going to drown, be buried alive, or both!?)" a furret with lots of bags under their eyes, shrieked while constantly rubbing the backs of their shaking, terrified children. Scowling, Zoroark clenched his paws into fists and glowered at Cobalion who paid him no mind as she requested the crowd to quiet down.

"(There you have it. When our kin were placed in the exact same situation as the humans, we treated each other no better than they did,)" 'Maris' argued, causing light bulbs to go off in the heads of the crowd who murmured among themselves while Blastoise and Wynter calmed down to an extent, seeing that Cobalion was indeed getting through to them. Zoroark, meanwhile, growled under his breathe and furiously rapped his arm with his claws while Haxorus gnashed her fangs together so tightly one might think they would break.

"(If that is not enough to convince you, take into consideration the human criminal organizations they mentioned earlier. One such group, Team Plasma, caused quite a ruckus in my region. They rallied about how our kind was being used as nothing but tools by humanity and how we would only live fulfilling lives if were completely separated from them, a sentiment I share. In actuality, they only convinced the humans to release our kin so they would be the only ones with kaiju to make my region easier to take over,)" Cobalion elaborated as she vividly remembered barely restraining herself from slaying Team Plasma grunt and trainer alike during the incident concerning the successors to the mantles of the Heroes of Truth and Ideals.

"(What's your point?)" Zoroark huffed, something the crowd, especially Wynter and Blastoise, were wondering as well.

"(My point is that I need only bring up how you two addressed me earlier. Your first strike is when I asked if this was an open forum and your exact words were 'If we stood here and debated over every last little thing, nothing would be accomplished.' I too shared your feelings on this matter once upon a time, but now I understand that while it would slow the process down as you fear...it can be effective,)" the master swordswoman stated with each word she uttered from that phrase feeling like she was downing a tankard of searing hot, boiling water, but meant what she said. Perhaps the Great Rebellion would have turned out differently had she not surrounded herself with sycophants eager to please her for their own ends, fanatics wholeheartedly devoted to carrying out her every whim, or cowardly servants too afraid to offer up any dissent. Suddenly, a realization hit her like an out of control train that made her want to dip her head and pinch the bridge of her nose, but managed to maintain her stoic front, albeit not flawlessly as her lips quivered and her face contorted for the briefest of moments.

"(No, that's not true. There were those who suggested alternate courses of action or pointed out the flaws in my plans, but Cobalion knew best, she always did,)" the warrior from the Days of Old mirthlessly remarked as she shook her head, let out a soft, long breathe, and locked eyes with the agents.

"(You say that the human criminals treat our kind as nothing but tools, yet from where I am standing, it sounds like you two mean to do the same. Or was the implication in your tone that everyone should follow your lead because you know best not enough?)" the knight errant queried, making the youth who had earlier pledged his support to the agent's cause look down at his feet as if he would find the answer to his dilemma there. The agents, meanwhile, remained silent, but glared daggers at 'Maris' who stared back at them with a wooden gaze.

"(Nothing to say? How about your other statement 'We value our follower's input when it is asked for, as it gives us a sense of where they stand on certain matters, but other than that, we expect them to respect and trust the chain of command.' That sounds like blind obedience, no?)" Cobalion inquired as she regretted that during the Great Rebellion, her mentality fell squarely in the latter with only a little wiggle room for the former. Again, the agents could say nothing in response, something the former master of the Swords of Justice capitalized on.

"(Still you two do not speak? Do you wish to talk about how you insulted me rather than try and disprove my arguments, showing to all that when backed into a corner, that is all you can resort to? How about when you deflected my question of whether you two feel that you need to bear the burden of leadership by ordering me to get back into formation? That sounds like something a human would do, no? Using others for their own ends?)" the ex-leader of the Swords of Justice posited, causing the Charmeleon, after intensely debating the issue amongst himself, to walk away from the agent's side and back to the other who did not want conflict. Subtly nodding in approval upon seeing this, Cobalion celebrated her small victory, but quickly moved on from this feeling of elation as she saw that some still sided with the agents.

"(It's working, but some still choose to side with them. What can convince all but the most devoted zealots and those most dedicated to retributive justice? Hmm...I know what must be said; it will make all three of us pariahs, but...I suppose it must be done,)" the master swordswoman grudgingly admitted inside her head as she took in a breathe, let it back out, and steeled herself as she turned towards the crowd with her head held high.

"(What say you? Nothing still? If that is the case, then I will tell these misinformed souls of the torture and reeducation camps our people employed,)" the warrior from the Days of Old said, causing an abrupt, deathly silence to fall upon the crowd with no one willing to break it.

"(T-torture!? R-reeducation!?)" the equine with the flaming mane choked out after several unbearable seconds, causing the master swordswoman to hesitantly nod, turn towards the crowd, and channel gray energy into her paws.

(Yes, something these two have willingly withheld from you...and something I have not only authorized, but performed on both species extensively,)" the knight errant responded and while the agents tried to stop her, a quick, stern glare was enough for them to freeze up and back away from 'Maris.'

"(During our region's Great Rebellion, when we needed more able bodies or to coax information out of unwilling prisoners, this is one method we used,)" Cobalion began as she used her energy to conjure an opaque, androgynous, human construct and a transparent, representation of the form she was currently assuming.

"(By pushing a fragment of your life force through the target's nostrils like so…)" the master swordswoman started as she conjured two small, marble like orbs, walked up to the constructs, tilted their heads back, and inserted the spheres up their nose.

"(You can infuse your life force with the victims and, by exerting your will over their own, they will admit the truth since they are now extensions of you and you, in this scenario, want to know what they know,)" Cobalion elaborated while proceeding to demonstrate as she clenched her fist, causing the orbs fused to the construct's artificial brains to spread like kudzu and even extend as far as the eyes. Horrified gasps came from the crowd, with some even breaking out into cold sweats, causing even more to turn away from Haxorus and Zoroark's side, while Blastoise glared daggers at the former master of the Swords of Justice.

"(Of course, this method could also be used to just fry the subject's brain if they were deemed of no use, if they were found out to be giving misleading information, or if they have given the desired knowledge and you don't want it back in the enemy's hands,)" the knight errant went on as she squeezed her paw even tighter, making the veins on her arm bulge, and the construct's artificial brain to completely melt away into a thick, smoking pile of goo.

"(This method often killed the subject, even when the torturer took the utmost care to keep them alive, so it was only used when all other means of interrogation had been exhausted,)" the former master of the Swords of Justice finished as she dissipated the constructs, which had simulated blood churning out of their eyes, mouth, and ears, bringing no end of horror to those in attendance. Wynter, meanwhile, covered her mouth, pushed her way through the crowd, and collapsed onto all fours over a bush, and vomited up her lunch. Cringing, Blastoise maneuvered her way through the crowd, caught up to the anxious pseudo-dragon, knelt down next to her, placed her claw on her friend's back, and rubbed it while Wynter continued upchucking the contents of her gut.

"(You okay?)" Espeon concernedly asked the panicky ice dragon who, after dry heaving and retching for a few moments longer, nodded while wiping the saliva and bile hanging from the corners of her mouth with her forearm.

"(I-I g-guess so, b-but that woman, j-just...just what kind of things has she done to demonstrate something like that so casually?)" Wynter queried as she sat on her haunches and took a moment to catch her breathe.

"(Don't know, but she mentioned Alice and she implied that she knew Dmitri from somewhere. When we wrap this up, we should ask them if they know her and if they do, what exactly their relationship with her was...or is,)" Blastoise suggested, a course of action Wynter agreed with, while the psychokinetic cat chuckled under her breathe. She could already imagine the battle ace's flustered expression and the ex-heiress' indignant, haughty rage.

"(It wouldn't hurt to ask,)" was the pink feline's simple response as she looked over her shoulder at her allies and gestured with her head at Cobalion and the agents. Nodding, Wynter, while still sitting, held up a claw, causing Espeon to return the gesture as she focused her attention back on the discussion at hand.

"(That...is a fair hit, and something we're not all too comfortable with either, but it's something neither Haxorus or I performed during our mission-)"

"(Must I reiterate my views on humanity from prior? Just because you two are exceptional in this case does not mean it applies to the whole,)" Cobalion cut off the illusionary fox before he could argue their case any further. Taking their silence as a cue to continue, the former master of the Swords of Justice cleared her throat, created another set of human and Mienshao like constructs, and locked eyes with the crowd.

"(This method was the most commonly applied, given that it caused excruciating pain, and only resulted in death when the torturer was careless,)" 'Maris' began as she conjured a blade of light, made incisions on the dummy's arms, legs, back, chest, inner thighs, pubic region, and gluteal cheeks, and inserted energy spheres into the lacerations like before.

"(If we, say, wanted information or the target's cooperation, we could, for example, put pressure on the heart, constrict the blood vessels, cause internal bleeding, or move vital organs out of place ever so slightly. Those methods, however, were restricted to only the most masterful interrogators due to the skill and precision needed to utilize vital energy in such a manner,)" the master swordswoman informed the masses and proceeded to demonstrate by compressing one of the dummy's fake hearts with the spheres and slowly, but surely prying the rib cage of the other dummy apart. Wynter, who had just gotten up and was about to rejoin the crowd, proceeded to cover her mouth and rush back to the bushes upon witnessing this display. Grunting, the dragon turtle followed her cohort to make sure she was okay as Cobalion proceeded with her demonstration.

"(However, it was more commonplace among interrogators to just burn the target internally until they conceded to whatever they were asked of. Again, while this was it's most basic and simple usage, care still needed to be exercised lest a potentially useful asset be lost,)" the knight errant continued as she narrowed her eyes, causing the orbs within the dummies to shine brightly like the sun, and violently carbonize their fake organs. With practiced restraint that was akin to breathing, Cobalion stopped when she deemed that the dummies, had they actually been alive, would pass away from the wounds inflicted on them.

"(Another usage was to...destroy the reproductive organs of the target so as to ensure that they would never conceive offspring again. This was inflicted on those whom we deemed a threat during our Great Rebellion, and we didn't want to deal with them again by proxy through their progeny. Thus, for those who were wondering, it was why I made cuts on the pubic region and butt,)" the master swordswoman explained while proceeding to demonstrate the destruction of the artificial reproductive organs of the dummies, making some members of the crowd tremble and break out into cold sweats. Others, however, hightailed it for the bushes like Wynter or, just barely managed to swallow back down what they were to throw up.

"(And...I suppose that is my say on the matter,)" the warrior from the Days of Old finished while dissipating her dummies, allowing everyone present to mull over the information they had been given. The crowd was dead silent, staring at 'Maris' with either gazes that could kill many times over, wide eyed stares, complete with clenched teeth as if she were a monster they needed to get away from, or vacant, jaw dropped looks that were only just beginning to process what they they just heard. Espeon, meanwhile, just pursed her lips and nodded while pushing her way through the crowd and approached the legendary in mortal form.

Looking over her shoulder at her allies, the psychokinetic cat gestured with her head at Cobalion, causing Blastoise to nod and thump Wynter's shoulder. Nodding, the panicky ice dragon, after sucking in a breathe and tilting her head back, got back up and walked toward her ally with the dragon turtle in tow. Raising a brow, the knight errant crossed her arms as the pink feline stopped where they both proceeded to look at each other dead in the eye.

"(I have a feeling on what you're getting at here with those displays of yours, but how about you say it outright for people who are still confused,)" Espeon suggested as she sat down on her haunches next to the warrior from the Days of Old and was soon joined by Blastoise and Wynter, with the latter still looking a tad bit squeamish.

"(What I'm trying to say is that the problems our kind faces will not go away if the humans are gone,)" Cobalion declared though was loathe to admit and was sure her past self would lambaste her for even making such a statement.

"(Y-You said you authorized these kind of things, and y-you did it to both humans and kaiju?)" the fiery maned equine queried with a fearful stutter in his voice, causing Cobalion to dip her head and give a barely noticeable nod in response. Grunting, the equine looked down at the ground, pursed his lips, and narrowed his eyes as he picked his head up, glowered at 'Maris', and stepped forward.

"(O-Okay, well then, y-you guys need to go back to your region then. You and those two who were trying to convince us to go fight the humans. I-I don't know what your region's like, but it doesn't sound good from what we've been told!)" the fiery maned equine exclaimed with a dozen others, riled up by his proclamation, roared in agreement and advanced on the foreign kaiju with malicious intent clear on their mind. The crowd, however, stopped in their tracks when the agent's followers, both from Unova and the allies they accumulated in Johto since they first arrived, even with the recent revelation, protectively stepped in front of them.

"(All of you stop, now!)" Espeon yelled while using her psychokinesis to amplify her voice in order to make it sound like Arceus when the creator first addressed her and Oni whenever she was giving the Lord of the Seas an update on Alice's progress. This got the desired reaction as everyone, even the stone faced Cobalion and the nearly unflappable Blastoise, to jolt as the thunderous, booming voice that shook the sky and earth made their hearts skip a beat and give the pink cat their full attention.

"(Look, all of this, what we were just shown, it isn't exclusive to just our kin from one region or another. We're all capable of it, and we all need to acknowledge that and resolve to be better,)" Espeon proclaimed with an unusual heaviness in her tone as her eyes and gem started to glow a bright, shining crimson. She then proceeded to link her mind with everyone in the crowd, the agents, their followers, and her allies and for those who were dark type, she used what she knew on aura to share her thoughts with them instead. With everyone's mind synced, she went on to show her rampage on the destroyed Team Rocket laboratory after the prime subject had freed himself. Moreover, despite not being witness to the events of the clash between the prime subject, his clone army, the Chosen One, and his allies, she did manage to sense what was going on while contemplating what to do with herself after she had her fill of torture and transmitted these events to everyone's mind as well.

"(E-Espeon, y-you…)" Wynter blubbered only to scowl at the psychokinetic cat, clench her claws, and bare her fangs at the pink feline, something the eeveelution took with grace as she merely released a breathe in response.

"(I understand how you feel-)"

"(Bullshit! Don't talk to me and stay the hell away from Dmitri!)" Wynter sharply interrupted the pink feline as ominous, white mist started to coat her as Blastoise suddenly clasped her shoulder, making the anxious pseudo-dragon jolt.

"(If she wanted to harm us, she would have done it a long time ago,)" the dragon turtle calmly, but firmly informed the panicky ice dragon who scoffed and turned her head so she was staring directly at Blastoise.

"(I...I can't believe you're just okay with-)"

"(I'm not; I already saw what she did when I joined up with Alice, and everything she, my bitchy trainer, and Poliwrath had gotten up before coming here. That in mind, believe me when I say that Espeon is making the most of her second chance at life,)" the dragon turtle gently, but sternly cut off her friend who huffed, cast a glance at Espeon who was blankly staring back at her, and clicked her tongue while staring off to the side.

"(F-fine, b-but, I-I just, need some time to process all this,)" Wynter hesitantly conceded, hoping to Arceus that letting her walls down around Espeon with this new information she had was the right decision, something the pink feline appreciated. Shaking these thoughts aside, the psychokinetic cat locked eyes with the now (rightfully) terrified crowd with some unconsciously backing away from her with Cobalion and the agents following suit.

"(Alright, you all need to make a decision, here and now. You can join up with these guys and take the fight to the humans to serve their greater good, or if you just have an inkling for vengeance against them,)" Espeon started while gesturing with her head at the agents who were just looking at the pink feline with silent, stunned silence and looked like they were debating on whether they should just cut their losses if this is what they were up against.

"(If you want to, that's your decision. Just know that what I did for revenge and what our friend here with the gooey arm did for her cause changed us for the worse, and you'd better believe you're either going to be complicit in or performing similar deeds to both species if you join up with them. If this disgusts you, if this makes your stomach churn, now's the time to fall on the right side of the fence,)" Espeon advised like a wizened, world weary mentor doing their absolute best to try and persuade their students not to make the same mistakes they did. Her words seemed to have gotten through to them as a good chunk of the crowd turned away from the agents and sided with Cobalion, or at least wanted nothing to do with the agent's agenda anymore. Unfortunately, however, they were some, even with what they had witnessed, that still chose to side with Haxorus and Zoroark, making Espeon shake her head.

"(Even after everything they've seen, they still side with them!? I can not fathom...no, had I been in their place, I would have made the same choice,)" the warrior from the Days of Old internally admitted as, thinking fighting would break out at any moment, summoned forth her fighting spirit and constructed a longsword from the vital energy.

"(It's certainly disappointing, but expected. All we can do now is wait and see what their response will be,)" Espeon interjected, making Cobalion jolt and spare a quick glance at the psychokinetic cat, who gave her a polite head nod of acknowledgment as she too readied herself with Blastoise, Wynter, and everyone else who sided against the agents following suit.

---

Studying the scene before her, the unquestioned ruler of the Distortion World mindlessly clicked her mandibles together before closing the window she was using to gaze into the material plane. Chuckling upon recalling that Cobalion still thought that this specific scenario was all just a simulation, albeit one she was handling better than the ghostly dragon thought she would, she couldn't help but picture the master swordswoman's flabbergasted expression once she learned the truth. Pushing the thought aside, the overlord of the Reverse World took a moment to process all the information she saw from this developing situation.

It was never a question if violence was going to break out, it was simply a matter of how long it would go on and how much damage there would be. Judging from how the former leader of the Swords of Justice handled the situation, and with the gym leaders from the various cities joining the fray, it most likely wouldn't last for long. Still, beings are more dangerous when they feel they're pushed into a corner with no way out, and while the situation with her clone brethren hadn't reach that point yet, it was getting dangerously close to it.

Speaking of beings being more dangerous when pushed into a corner with no way out, the ruler of the Reverse World pried open another window into the material plane and set her gaze onto the Unova region. From there, she saw the New Swords of Justice's forces taking up defensive positions on what territory they had left with Sawsbuck and Gigalith directing them while standing smack dab in the front lines. No easy task for certain, and they did all this while readying all non-combatants for evacuation, something the ghostly dragon knew Bisharp would not even consider doing.

"(Hmm, interesting. It could be taken as them just preparing for a last stand to take as many of their adversaries out as possible, but judging from how they set themselves up, it seems that just might be willing to consider opening dialogue,)" Giratina mused, but whether or not her statement would be the case is something she would have to behold once the former champion of Unova and the forces she joined initiated their assault. Pursing her lips, the Child of Arceus switched her point of view to Bisharp and proceeded to pinch the bridge of her nose with her insect like legs when she saw him communicating with a being that had done great harm to both sides during Unova's Great Conflict through a frequency only the being could hear.

"(When pushed into a corner,)" Giratina quietly remarked with a shake of her head as she knew now the steel type had well and truly gone over the rails if he didn't think that this would end with him in the draconic beast's deathly cold gullet. Tapping her chin with her one of her ovipositors, the ghostly dragon contemplated her next course of action. Direct interference was forbidden unless under the most dire of circumstances, and even then, her elder brothers didn't want her aid when such a situation presented itself. Mother herself would not intervene as she told them countless times before that the sun is almost set on her time as overseer of the cosmos and thus, they would need to learn how to handle such matters without her.

Still, something more had to be done than just sending out a warning, and a cryptic one at that in order to side step Mother's rule on interference, or just sending out assistance from the long dead like she had done before. Looking down at the abyss as if it would contain the answer to her predicament, a light bulb suddenly went off in her head. The Dragon of Eternal Winter would inevitably subsume Zekrom and Reshiram once they laid their eyes on their "siblings" in order to become whole again, so why not turn that advantage into a weakness? Switching her gaze onto the Dragons of Truth and Ideals, the ghostly dragon ever so subtly tore the tiniest hole into the fabric of the material plane, stuck out the tip of one of her ovipositors, and shot a needle thin beam of purple miasma at the wyrms. If Zekrom and Reshiram felt anything, they certainly didn't show it as they continued to stand around their heroes who were discussing the battle to come with their allies.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the ruler of the Distortion World took quiet pride in her handiwork. Yes, when they were absorbed, they would cease to be...and at the same time, still exist in some capacity. Now, to tip the scales even more, if only by a marginal amount. Closing the window and tear into the material world, Giratina proceeded to grab one of the purple, floating orbs hovering around her domain and opened it like a door where she saw Terrakion ruminating on the lessons she had gone through. Noticing her warden, the master swordswoman sighed softly, turned to face the ghostly dragon, and deferentially dipped her head.

"(I had assumed the lessons I had were done for now,)" Terrakion stated as, like Cobalion before her, was hesitant to meet Giratina's gaze and turned her head when the ghostly dragon pushed her face mere inches away from hers.

"(Not quite; now then, ready for your next set of lessons?)" the overlord of the Reverse World queried as the second to Cobalion picked up her head and, after sucking in a breathe, looked the ghostly dragon in the eyes and nodded.

"(I am, Lord Giratina. Let us begin,)" Cobalion's second answered and, not a moment too soon, all light in the pocket dimension that was her cell went off, save for the small, purple, will o' the wisp on the floor.

Hi guys, there's obviously been a long wait since the last chapter so let me explain. I was busy studying for my bachelors degree in history in 2020, which, as you may imagine, left little to no time to work on this or my other fics. I managed to graduate, got my final grades early last year, and spent the next several months job hunting where I managed to get a temp job through an agency in October of last year. I was let go last month due to being near the end of my contract so I'm back in the job hunt as of now. I hope this chapter tides everyone over until I can get the next one out, which I will try to work on while publishing the chapters for the other fics I'm writing for.